One holiday season at a time, people...!
 

As we all know, the stores like to get an early start on Christmas - decorations, trees, giant inflatable light-up snowmen...

I went to a Home Depot today, and they have all their decorations and trees up NOW. They were putting up snow-globes and Christmas trees up in September.

I can't believe we're at the point where we're putting that stuff up BEFORE Halloween decorations even get put out. At this rate, there's going to be Christmas displays during the summer next year. I love the holiday like anyone, but this is getting way out of hand... What next, Christmas trees with Candy Corn strings? Or Santa Claus carved into Pumpkins? Can we at least have Halloween left alone? Thanksgiving is getting covered over by 'Winter Holidays' as it is...

Has anyone else seen this in the local stores yet?

I went to Cracker Barrel tonight, if you've never been to one it's basically a restaurant with an oldschool general store in the front. They had tons of Christmas stuff out, snowglobes, wreaths, you name it. & yes, Halloween too. Pretty ridiculous but not the first time I've seen it done that way somewhere. I do think it may be worse than last year, though.

I know, right? Walmart is starting now to put out Christmas with the Halloween. :ohwell: It's way too early. They used to do it a week before Halloween and that's early enough there.

As for Cracker Barrel, they've had Halloween and just a smattering of Christmas in their country stores since August.

Sadly, I've noticed the "burnt out/spoiler" factor with regards to Christmas in recent years. I still feel Halloween does a good job as we're now in October meaning that it's "seasonally appropriate" to start preparing for that holiday. At least during October we don't see/hear stuff like Christmas music, winter sales, snowblowers just yet. But this "seasonal creep" is just a drive for customers to spend money. I've seen bathing suits in January as well! And don't get me started on that "Merry/Festive/Happy" thing with regards to political correctness in terms of greetings! But just wait until IMMEDIATELY after Halloween, it seems like "Chirstmas is here and you can't escape it"- music everywhere, webpages with a snowflake/tree/reindeer/wreath. That period between Halloween and Thanksgiving is definitely the most "pushy" time of the year.

If somebody wants Christmas before the season starts, just use a search engine, please!

I think the reason they're doing this is because of the economy and wanting people to get an early start on Christmas shopping. While I can understand the motive, it's just way too much for me. I'm not big on holidays anymore anyway, and I really am not in the mood to see Christmas stuff up before Halloween is even here. Next thing you know, radio stations are going to start playing Christmas music. Yuck!

I was glad to see the Christmas lights show up at Target, as I've been needing replacement bulbs/fuses for a non-Christmas string of lights I keep up year-round.

Awesome at this rate Christmas season will be from January to December by 2020.

I do agree that Christmas stuff is on shelves a bit too early this year. At least last year it started right after Black Friday.

No it didn't. You must not have been looking.

Usually, it does start after Black Friday and sometimes before that. Last year, I think it started a bit before Black Friday. This year, they're going overboard. But I think it's a money thing because they know the economy's tough for everyone. So, I think they're going to have sales and stuff so people can do their Christmas shopping early. Heck, I could care less about getting presents or whatever. I've got better things to think about than that.

Speak for yourself. Remember that not everyone lives in the same area as you.

i was a bit amazed the other day when i was shopping and one aisle was halloween, the end cap had thanksgiving and the next aisle was christmas... had to leave before it was 2012...

No offence but complaining about Christmas starting early is getting as annoying as Christmas starting early. This isn't something new and Christmas stuff by October or even earlier in some stores this is nothing new. Yeah it sucks but complaining about it is irrelevant by this point since it's been many years since it started happening. Christmas stuff at the end of September? depending on the store this is not new this year.

I think the complaint is that it's not even Halloween yet, and they're already doing Christmas stuff. Usually, it's done after Thanksgiving, but we feel that it's overkill to do it this early. But the stores need their money, and they feel this is the way to do it.

Exactly.

National chains such as Target, WalMart, Home Depot, etc. have been rolling out Christmas stuff at the end of September/beginning of October for at least several years. It's been a long, long time since the Christmas shopping season was strictly defined as Thanksgiving-Christmas. That's just too short of an amount of time for stores to make the amount of money they need to make here at the end of the year.

People just need to get over it.

Being Aussie i don't celebrate Halloween. but Target, Big W etc are putting thier Christmas stuff out it is kinda silly but i just ignore it.

I don't mind the early Christmas fanfare myself as it sort of makes up for the lack of people everywhere preserving the 12-Day duration of it just because New Year happens in-between. Makes me sad that some like to timewarp to Jan 6th on Dec 26th. Maybe I'm just old fashioned. :)

I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Halloween either, so seeing Christmas stuff around cheers me up.

Sometimes it is practical to start Christmas shopping early. Some people I know do all their present shopping in August. It is a good way of taking a ton of rush and stress out of December. Especially for people who don't have a lot of time and money, spreading Christmas expenditure across a longer period of time works better. I should know, as I am charge of Chrimbo at my house and I have to make sure we can get provisions in economically and practically to avoid the greed rush.

I see what people are saying about Christmas promotion starting way too early. I would just prefer to see that same expression of appreciation during Christmas rather than take it all down during it.

===HERO

I think a lot of people also start shopping early because of sales and things like that. They figure the earlier they get it done, the better so they don't have to fight the crowds.

To many, the "Christmas Season" begins today!

If you watched the Simpsons Treehouse of Terror episode, you noticed that Homer said "Halloween's over! Now it's time for Christmas!" and the snow fell. Seemingly at Midnight, eBay's logo switched from Breast Cancer to a gingerbread with "get gifts". I find the period between Halloween and Thanksgiving as a "secondary lent" in terms of Christmas preperations; try to give it up as you can without spoiling it. Some shopping is OK, but don't decorate your house yet, don't listen to any holiday music, until Thanksgiving has past, at least in the US. Other countries like Canada and Britain don't have a Thanksgiving in their way so they can be good game for Christmas.

This "seasonal creep" phenomenon isn't exclusive to Christmas. I've seen reports of Valentine's Day cards/gifts BEFORE Christmas, Easter in January, and Back-to-School stuff in June! We all need to learn to be more patient and not get ahead of ourselves too much. It's important to follow every step no matter what procedure you do. Just remember that God or whoever didn't plan this and that it's all about consumerism.