Most of the stores have nearly all their Christmas things out already. To this I say "Bah humbug!" - we are only one week into October for pete's sake! Every year they break out the Christmas stuff a little earlier, and frankly... I don't like it. Maybe this is part of why so many people don't care for Christmas so much anymore... it's being "celebrated" for three months of the year. When you spend so much time on a holiday, it detracts from how special that day is supposed to be. I know not everyone celebrates Christmas - for some it is Hanukkah, for some it's Kwanza, for some it is Yule and so on... but regardless there is a date at some point in December (for most) that is a day of celebration regardless of your faith. Not to mention those who do not celebrate ANY of those holidays at all, whatever their reasons. But my point is, regardless of what specific holiday you celebrate, the holiday themed things begin popping up in stores FAR too early in the year, and they take away from how special that day SHOULD be. Personally, I would prefer to not see even a tiny hint of Christmas in stores until a week after Thanksgiving. But that's just me, and it bothers me the way Thanksgiving always seems to be an overlooked holiday; people (and stores) go all out for Halloween and Christmas (at the same time now, rather than one right after another) but there's not typically much of anything for Thanksgiving, other than sales on turkey.

There is a way to change this too you know. If enough people felt this way there would be, anyway. All you would have to do is simply not purchase anything Christmas (etc.) related until later in the year, closer to the actual holiday. If people are not buying, stores will not put the stuff out so early. It's quite simple. But... I know that will never happen. Not with the way society is these days. But I personally do not buy Christmas things until after Thanksgiving. That's not to say I do not buy gifts before then... I do my gift shopping year-round, and hold on to those things bought early in the year so when the holidays roll around I'm pretty much done with shopping. This cuts down on the time that needs to be spent in over-crowded stores around the holidays, and it also means should anything happen that you don't have the money to buy any gifts once the holidays are close, it's not a problem because you already have gifts.

Gifts are not what the holidays are about anyway, but you know we all get sucked into the gifts thing anyway... which is fine, provided the GIVING and making someone else happy is more important than GETTING and being selfish. All things in life need a healthy balance and moderation and that includes gifts.

ANYWAY. I suppose I'm done with my ranting for today.