OK, well, maybe not. Long time followers of this blog will know this post well. It’s the one where I rant about how Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday of the Holiday Season, despite being among the best holidays of the year. It started in 2008, and then I posted the exact same post in 2009. Neither got a single response from my reading public. To change it up, I posted something new in 2010, which I thought was an even better post on the subject. And the people agreed! I got a whole 3 responses (pretty good for me)! And the reviews were generally positive!
But this year, Christmas stuff is out earlier than ever! Christmas displays came out in October is most stores. I saw Christmas ads on TV starting after LABOR DAY! Yes, that’s in September. I am appalled. HORRIFIED! This is not progress! This is anti-progress! What’s anti-progress? As a country, we’re regressing. Things are getting worse. I think, this year, I'll just post instances of Christmas Creep...dating back to September. I stole these from Gregg Easterbrook of ESPN. He posts these in all of his pre-Christmas columns. I'll post a few here, just to give a taste of how extensive this issue is...
Reader Jimmy Luth of Alpharetta, Ga., reports, "My family went to Costco on a near 100-degree day toward the end of August. My 5-year-old Annabelle exclaimed 'What the heck!' and pointed at a display towering over most aisles -- of fully lit snowmen and Christmas decorations." Mike Morelli of Putnam Valley, N.Y., reports, "On Aug. 29, the Costco in Yonkers had a two-row display of Christmas related items, including multiple nativity scenes and light-up snowmen. In fairness to Costco, I must admit I fell for the idea, buying family members UCLA, Georgetown, Oklahoma and Indiana sweatshirts for Christmas for less than $15 each." Mike, now they'll know how little you paid!
Yes...August...and Christmas displays were going up. Ridiculous.
Reader Jill Andvik of Seattle reports, "In QFC on Sept. 11, 105 days before Christmas, there were snowflake-themed mugs and bowls -- next to the Halloween candy, 50 days before Halloween." Jeremy Nichols of St. Louis writes, "On Sept. 13, the Lakeside Christmas Collection finally arrived!"
Oh, that's good. Christmas AND Halloween creep.
Reader Denny Sump of McCandless, Pa., writes, "I was at the Pittsburgh International Airport on Sept. 21, and standing at the exit doors was someone swinging a bell for the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Christmas charity."
Wow. Guess the bell ringers are getting in on the creep action too.
Dan Ruef of Pittsburgh reports that Home Depot stores in his area have already begun setting up not just a shelf with lights for sale, but entire elaborate Christmas sections. Check this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette account, "By late October, most of the hardware chain's Pittsburgh area locations will be a wonderland of acrylic snowmen, Martha Stewart ornaments and easy-to-assemble artificial trees." Get your artificial Christmas trees before the Halloween rush!
Pittsburgh getting in on the Christmas Creep action again...impressive dedication to forgetting about Thanksgiving.
Reader Greg Aaron reports the village of Cedarhurst, N.Y., already has its Christmas decorations up on Central Avenue, the main drag -- and they were up before Yom Kippur. Nathan S. of Knoxville, Tenn., reports, "I work in a Kohl's department store, and our first Christmas decorations went up on Sept. 13. On the 27th, our fall merchandise had been moved out of the seasonal section of our store and placed on sale, just as actual fall was beginning, to make room for Christmas merchandise."
OK, this is just absurd. I think I'll stop there. And I've only gotten to early October. It's getting out of hand. The Christmas Season does not start in August. You know how hot it was here in August? Well, not that hot...we had a brilliant summer this year. But that's just it...IT'S SUMMER! Christmas has absorbed Halloween, Labor Day, and plenty of normal days in between. At least people still remember Halloween around all the Christmas Creep...Thanksgiving is the poor, forgotten holiday.
Listen, I'll just restate things briefly. Thanksgiving doesn't have the flash or flair of Christmas. There is no gift giving. There are no flash lights or special kids stories or TV specials. There's just a table of food, family and/or loved ones around it, and special times with those people. It's all about spending time with the people you love. I guess that's why it's not as popular...its hard to market being a good person and enjoying people's company. Hard to make money off Thanksgiving, so the stores ignore it.
I don't mind Thanksgiving being ignored, so much. I do mind Christmas taking over it's month, though. Just hold off until after Thanksgiving with the advertising! That's all I want. I don't think its asking too much.
Well, at least one major store seems to be getting the message...
Thank you, Nordstrom, for chilling out on Christmas Creep. At least one major retailer isn't getting all up into Thanksgiving with their Christmas marketing.
Thanksgiving is this Thursday. Whatever you end up doing for this wonderful holiday, and whoever you end up doing it with, I hope you all have a special day!
Happy Turkey Day!
2 comments:
I just gained a ton of respect for Nordstrom.
I am actually excited about Christmas this year, but I, like Nordstrom, agree with the one holiday at a time rule. It's annoying to want to put up my decorations but knowing I should wait only to have it rubbed in my face from stores and radios that they can.
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