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Christmas in November

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I was walking down the toilet paper aisle at Kroger yesterday, when I was blindsided by this:

Christmas in November

Either my local Kroger exists in a time bubble that has been forced one month into the future, or the managers are missing the month of November in their wall calendars, because as we all know, it is far, far, far too soon to be putting up Christmas trees.

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  3. Every single store around here is already infected with Christmas decor. I don’t think there is anything wrong with planning early, but I’m pretty sure that staring at Santa at the end of October should be illegal.

  4. Yes Target is like this too as I was assaulted with the same thing when buying 75% off Halloween stuff there last night. It’s almost like Thanksgiving doesn’t exist.

  5. I guess technically Thanksgiving doesn’t exist in terms of retail sales. Not outrageous decor, cards and candy. I was not amused to see so much so fast either. I’m ready in about 2 weeks, but I do need some down time between Halloween and Christmas before getting it shoved down my throat.

    Fa-la-la-laaaa and shit.

  6. Lowes here has had their Christmas trees up since at least the beginning of October, maybe even mid-September. It’s sickening!

  8. It’s like that everywhere now. I was at Target yesterday and the ceilings were covered in giant hanging snowflakes and tinsel. And of course Starbucks is already using their holiday cups!

  9. Yes, I know. It starts waaay too early! I don’t like that they have to start so early and have to comercialize it so much!!

  10. It’s all about the Benajamins baybee! When we were shopping for Halloween decoration at the end of September they were hard to find past all the Christmas crap at our local crafty store. INSANITY!

  11. I work in a Southern-based dept. store chain. My friend who works in the home/gifts dept. had to start putting out Christmas-themed merchandise the second week of October.

  12. Is it just me or is it strange that this is found in the GROCERY store….the only thing you used to be able to find to decorate a tree in the grocery store were candy canes…..everyone sells everything now…except what you really need when you need it.

  13. Hear, hear! I keep saying that Christmas needs to keep its big, jingly ass OUT of the other holidays’ way. No decorations until AFTER Thanksgiving. Give the other holidays their due, for croonin’ out loud!!

  14. Gads, you didn’t see my Rite Aid a couple weeks before Halloween! Not only did they have the Christmas display out, they had already moved on to the big 50% off SALE signs! Talk about moving up the holidays!

    It’s just wrong to see the after Christmas decor discounts two weeks before Halloween. JUST PLAIN WRONG!

  16. part of it is that corporate headquarters makes the decisions for all the stores. i work in a retail store and we had no choice but to start putting up christmas stuff in september. another part of it is that the economy sucks and stores are trying really hard to get sales so people can keep jobs. my company is really trying hard to not close any more stores both for the bottom line for them and so that they don’t have to devastate any more families.

  17. I’ve gotten so immune that seeing Christmas the day after Halloween no longer fazes me.

    The Halloween candy that has started appearing before my birthday (which falls the first week of August)? That still fazes me.

  18. Ever since my husband worked for Michaels (20 years ago), where they started putting up Christmas stuff in September, we haven’t decorated for Christmas. He said he had enough of Christmas decorations to last the rest of his life.

  20. In Texas, we start seeing Christmas stuff in August. Yeah. It annoys the snot out of me. The Christmas season is the day after Thanksgiving until New Years Eve. That is IT!

    *sigh*

  21. I remember the days when people didn’t put up their Christmas decorations until the day after Thanksgiving.

    I went to my friends’ house two weeks ago and they already had their Christmas tree up – TWO WEEKS before Halloween. I couldn’t believe it.

    When it starts this early I’m sick of looking at the decorations by the time Christmas comes.

    I’m doing to close my eyes and pretent it is still only the first week in November. I’m not ready for it.

  22. This is one of my HUGE pet peeves. The earlier this starts each year, the later I begin decorating my home and the less I enjoy it, because I’ve been looking at this stuff for a month already, EVERYWHERE I go!

    On the plus side, I have become much more spirtual in my celebration of Christmas as a reaction to my disgust with the commercialism of it all. I hear Linus’s voice in my head every December, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

  23. If people stopped buying all the Christmas crap in September and October then the stores would stop selling it. Bottom line: The stores do it because it works.

    Here’s something that helps with the shopping frenzy: Only buy products made in free countries, made by workers who get paid a fair wage. Your house will have less junk and more quality, there will be less plastic and waste produced so your purchasing habits support a cleaner, healthier environment, you get an opportunity to live your beliefs (assuming you believe in freedom, democracy, and human decency), and you’ll start to realize all that you can happily live without. I mean, who really needs jelly stick-on snowflakes for their windows anyway?! You can go on-line and look up directions to fold your own origami paper ones… with the added bonus of giving you something to do while watching The Grinch on television (and the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol!).

    Christmas can be a beautiful season when we actually get to the season… enjoy the parts you like and scoff at all the rest.

  24. I can’t stand the pre-Thanksgiving Christmas stuff when I’m in the States, but when I’m away I really miss it. Last year I didn’t see a fake Christmas tree until about 2 days before Christmas. (And I didn’t see any real ones at all.) They sell these horrible-looking plastic trees on the streets here on the days leading up to Christmas. It’s hard to feel festive.

    Some kind of middle ground would be nice.

  25. I’ve been observing xmas decorations creeping into stores since the end of September. I really hate how early stores stock christmas items, by the time the December comes I’m sick of it already. Takes a lot of the fun out.

  26. There’s actually been news reports saying that retail locations are opening up their Christmas stuff earlier than usual hoping that it will encourage increase in sales. Frankly, it makes me wanna jump in front of a moving train not buy a toy one for my nephew.

  28. It’s these retail shenanigans that make me despise the holiday season. I still want to enjoy fall without having christmas trees and santa clauses leering at me.

  29. Whatever happenend to the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas? In the olden days of yore, people didn’t put up their trees until Christmas Eve and would take them down on Three Kings Day/Epiphany. These days it’s more like 180 days of Christmas.

  30. …and this is how I end up eating candy corn in early September. I wish the stores would wait until at least 30 days prior to a holiday to start with all this nonsense. Grrrr and humbug.

  31. The worst example of this: a couple of years ago I went to a large outlet mall on the saturday before Halloween. They were letting the kids trick-or-treat in the stores. And the sound system was playing Christmas carols. Ugh.

    For me the Christmas season still starts the day after Thanksgiving.

  32. Ugh. I had to listen to “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” today while I bought groceries. Why must food outlets pipe this mind-numbing music so early? Thankfully, the store I was at hadn’t gotten to the visual Christmas blodgeoning…yet.

  33. Grocery stores are about the only place that might benefit financially from giving full time and space to Thanksgiving. Really.

  34. Okay, it’s been awhile since I’ve lived near or visited a Kroger, but since when did they start having holiday decor? That just seems wrong. LOL

  35. I’m sorry, but it amuses me how worked up people get over Christmas decorations. Seeing some fake trees and Santa figurines is all it takes to get people upset now? I think THAT says more about our culture than the fact that stores sell some silly merchandise early.

  36. I’ve just given in. I even listened to a carole the other day on ITunes (Where are you, Christmas? by Faith Hill. Gets me every time). In fact, I’m shipping off gifts today and enjoying the Christmas light-adorned houses on my drives home these days (I appreciate the fact they went up right around the time that daylight savings time ended – we needed something to perk up the gloom).

    I need a little cheery up – did you hear I lost my hard drive? Here’s my personal reminder to back up all your hard work!

    Spreading Holiday Cheer ….

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