On my way into town to run my daily errands, I had the radio on — as I usually do — during the 15-minute drive. Maybe I'm being old-fashioned about this but I felt a little shocked that the radio station was playing Christmas music, mixed with the invariable Christmas ads!
"Really?" I thought to myself, "we've barely passed Halloween and we're not even to Thanksgiving yet but we're already having Christmas?"
About five minutes later I got to the rather colorful place on the corner next to the first traffic light on the way into town, and noticed that their rather extravagant Christmas light display had already been put up. I reiterate, it's not even the 15th of November yet!
They always have a pretty over-the-top display there... to the point that 
As I said, I'm entirely open to the possibility that I may be a little old fashioned, and maybe I'm not quite with the times. However it seems to me that the annual cornucopia of commercialism, overspending and shiny things that go jingle arrives earlier and earlier with every year that passes.
Overdoing It?
Back when I had a retail store, putting up the Christmas decorations was usually the final thing we did before we went home on Wednesday right before Thanksgiving... so the store would be decorated for the Holidays for that great annual shopping tradition known as "Black Friday." And that seemed right and proper.
Of course, if you don't live in the USA, that whole concept probably is pretty meaningless to you... but I'm sure "Holiday stuff" gets earlier and earlier in many places around the world.
When I was a little kid — and granted, I grew up in Denmark which is different from the USA — we generally pulled out the Christmas decorations around the last 2-3 days of November, because we would start with Advent calendars on December 1st. But not a moment before.
I'm honestly not trying to be the Grinch who stole Christmas and I think a good celebration is certainly a worthwhile thing. On the other hand, I can't help but think that the more you stretch out a particular celebration the more you also dilute it's importance.
It's just not as "special" when it gets pounded into your head, around the clock, for 6-7 weeks!
The other day, I overheard someone talking, and making the point that they were only giving "token" gifts this year, and instead were focusing on spending time with friends and loved ones.
Sounds like a rather lovely idea to me, especially in this day and age where we get increasingly disconnected and isolated down inside our virtual worlds.
As one of my favorite bumper stickers reads "The best things in life are not... THINGS."
Perhaps something worth remembering, in our overcommercialized world!
Thanks for visiting, and have a great week ahead!
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Created at 2023-11-13 23:57 PDT
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