It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

I went to a meeting this morning and the people who had stopped at the nearby Starbucks were sipping cups of caffeine. Nothing notable there. But the cups--ah, the cups! They were red and festooned with mittens and snowflakes and other tree ornaments. They smelled like morning but they looked a whole lot like Christmas. The Starbucks customers assured me that holiday music was playing to get everybody in the mood. Imagine -- seven weeks of Christmas carols and "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas." Yikes!

Not that this should surprise me. As I write this, there are 44 days 'til Christmas 2009. That's 1062 hours and counting til Santa comes down the chimney (if he can navigate through the wood stove set on the hearth) and fill our stockings with joy.

I realize there is a recession and the stores are worried that they won't make enough money from frugal buyers. They feel they have to ramp up the holiday cheer to get us all in the mood. But sheesh--they started in September. I know this because I was in one of those dollar stores and was able to snap up rolls of Christmas wrapping paper for a buck each. I still have a handsome supply of wrapping paper in a closet upstairs, along with bows and the like, but I cannot resist a bah-gin, as we say in New England.

Of course the stores had to start decorating early because they had finished up with the back-to-school sales by the Fourth of July and the summer clearance sales ran in late July.

I admit I'm addicted to the local chain of Christmas Tree Shops, and no month is complete without a foray into the aisles to see what's on sale. Even those iconic stores don't decorate for Christmas until Halloween is over. Thanksgiving apparently doesn't have enough cachet to hold a place in retailers' hearts. Just turkey and pies. Ho hum, not jingle jingle in the pockets.

So--have you got your shopping done? Gifts wrapped and stashed? Cards addressed? Not me. Most years I do some Christmas shopping while I'm on vacation, so family can expect some gift from Hawaii or Alaska or wherever we have traveled during the year.

This year we got as far as upstate New York, and sure enough, I did pick up a few things there. But it's not a good idea to wrap them and hide them in closets or under the beds, because I will certainly forget them--either where I put them, what's in the brightly wrapped packages, or even that I ever bought them to begin with. Many years I am surprised around Easter to come across some gifts I have absolutely no recollection of buying. Lists are helpful, but too often I lose the lists, too.

But I actually love Christmas and look forward to the season every year--the cold snap that brightens my cheeks, the store clerks before they burn out from dealing with the public, the twinkly lights, and my annual humming-along with "The Messiah" (only in the comfort of my own home, of course).  So I agree with the sentiment--"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

If only they weren't singing it in July.

Comments

[Pamela]

Christmas decorations in stores is coming earlier and earlier. By the time Christmas is here, we've been hammered with it so long we're tired of it. I tried buying gifts early one year so I wouldn't be rushed. You guessed. I put them up and forgot where I put them. One way to look at, as fast as the stores change their decorations, they'll be putting up bathing suits in a few weeks.

[Jeanne]

Oh, Pamela, you are so right. The retailers assume we're all headed to the Caribbean for Spring Break, right? Ain't happenin'. Although I might "pool" all my resources for a spring week visiting Florida friends...and they do have a pool...

[Julia - Locust Leaf Farm]

Thanks for making me smile.

A friend of mine announced (back in early October) that she had finished all her Christmas cards. Before that news, I was feeling pretty good as I had taken a photo of my kids that would work for a holiday card.

I just can not get into Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. Perhaps that has to do with the farmer in me facing the 50 turkeys in the back yard, but I won't even let my kids hum a holiday song until the leftovers are put away.

I will confess that I have a few presents stashed away, but when your daughter wants a stuffed animal turkey vulture for Christmas you have to buy it when you can.

Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving. We can talk about Christmas after that.

[Jeanne]

I love Thanksgiving. I think I'll blog about it next week. After that, the deluge, as the poet says! Enjoy. 50 turkeys? I've plucked chickens in my day, but turkeys! Yikes!

[The older sister, Pat]

Well you will be happy to know I haven't even started a christmas list from who wants what. I have a Christmas Gift book that I track everybody and what I have purchased or made for each. Alas, where did I tuck that damn book?
Seriously - I did get a couple "ha ha" signs for my oldest daughter and a deerskin tri-fold wallet for her husband but their 3 kids are constructing wish lists, which I warned them, I needed by Thanksgiving at the latest. The youngest, my namesake, has gotten an email address and has submitted a list of 3 items to choose from. That's my girl.

[Jeanne]

Well, Mollie has a wish list as long as my arm, and she ain't gonna see most of that stuff on my dime! Hah!I'm just getting Ray restaurant and store gift cards and some magazine subscriptions. Jeanne