You're joking me, right?

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over here, it's September.
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Over here too. I just bumped this two-month-something-week-old thread.
 
I can even do better....I was at a local department store yesterday 9/17 and it has Christmas trees out in full force and decorations and all the regular christmas stuff....but wait...it was all ON SALE!! Yep!! It was already on sale! 15-25% off selected Christmas Merchandise! I was wondering if they ever took last years displays down! I thought that was a tad rediculious not only to have all the Christmas stuff out but to place it on sale already.
 
Well, it's my least favorite time of year. From the day after Thanksgiving (well, really, from the time the leaves are gone, until January 2nd, I'd like to hibernate like a bear and let it all pass me by. Wake me when it's over!
 
6 weeks is ample time for holiday sales. 6 weeks from now it will be Halloween. Mid October, I wouldn't mind seeing Thanksgiving stuff, and the week of Thanksgiving is when Christmas stuff should hit shelves.

In any store* that has Christmas merchandise out before October is even half done people should complain to the managers, letting them know that 'tis not the season' for such items. Fall has barely started, and they are skipping over two pretty big holidays.
I'm a Halloween fan myself, I have more fond memories of Halloween and Fall than I do of Christmas and Winter, so seeing Fall/Halloween items shoved aside for Christmas sales strikes a nerve. I'm sure if it were a National holiday like Christmas, Halloween would have better standings with more people buying for it, but there is little chance of that happening.

*The exception to this is craft stores, such as Joanns and Michaels. Handmade gifts and crafts require more time and it is reasonable for these stores to have their wares out early.
 
If I recall right most merchants make about a third of their total sales during the Christmas season. It is also the time when most merchants finally make a profit for the year. In the past few years with the down economy it is taking longer for the merchants to enough things sold so that they can show a profit for the year. So they are having to promote and start selling earlier and earlier each year.

We are taught that we must celebrate the holidays, or else something is wrong with you. And with Christmas we are told that we must buy things for everyone that we know. The holidays are now so commercial; we also have come to expect that we must receive gifts from everyone that we bought gifts for. I think to that most children have come to expect that they will receive anything that they want.

So while we are irritated by the marketing of the holidays, enough people are buying into the commercialism that I think that the holidays will continue to marketed sooner and sooner each year. I must say I am always happy that it is over after the first of the year.

I think I also read an article that says that at Halloween people are now spending more than they do at Christmas. I really don't understand how anyone can afford the holidays.
 
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Well that's easy. Halloween people spend more on Halloween and less on Christmas.
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From what I have seen many people that go all out for Halloween, do the same for Christmas. It's easy to build up a collection of things to use when you buy a little bit from year to year. A few years of spending ~$500 on props/lights/costumes/set ups and you'll eventually have more than you can fit in your house. Electric bills for Christmas have to be a pain, less so for Halloween, although some people might reach the same amount for both holidays.

Christmas sales have been moving up regardless of the economy, although it does have an effect.
If people will buy Christmas stuff earlier in the year, then they will sell earlier in the year.

I don't know about anyone else, but 'The 3 months of Christmas' just doesn't have the same ring to it as 'The 12 days of Christmas' does.
 
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X 2.

Family history has made "the holidays" very unpleasant for me. One would think that by now - I'm 57 - I would have been able to "re-write" the drive that makes me hunker down and pretend to be pleasant about Christmas with others. After all, just because I'm bummed doesn't mean I have to be a carrier.

My sister - my only living relative - died on Oct 24th last year, so that anniversary is approaching. Because I think Halloween is such a nifty celebration, I don't think that anniversary will muck things up (further, or earlier) for me. But then again, I've never had a sister die before then. Who knows. I know that she and I used to have the same reactions to the holidays (same family history, duh!) and we would commiserate with each other about it. I really miss talking to her.

Part of me wants to mention that this past spring and summer was SO odd, delayed, such that my tomatoes are JUST NOW ripening that we should be able to push "the holidays" further out, too. Delay 'em.

But noooo, the danged stores have started their decorations and sales.
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