Stores putting up Christmas decorations way early, Christmas music blaring...

[Initech]

Christmas-related commercials airing before Nov. 26th.

Why do I get the feeling this is all Bill O'Reilly's fault?

[Jack Rabbit]

1. This isn't early

When I was a child, I remember getting disgusted one year that they went up before Halloween.

[Initech]

6. They've been up since Labor Day here.

[Jack Rabbit]

12. They must be anticipating slow sales

That's usually the reason merchants rush Christmas like that.

[Donnachaidh]

13. ???!!!??? Labor day?

OMG!

[Initech]

16. I'm not kidding, either.

I shop at Costco on a weekly basis and they had big, giant Christmas decorations for sale on September 1st.

[rusty charly]

2. agreed

seems especially earlier this year. they're nervous about crappy sales figures and are trying to get the shopping jones going.

[dysfunctional press]

3. where do you live?

some of the stores here had their christmas stuff out on labor day.

[Initech]

5. California

There have been all-Christmas music stations on since before Halloween. :argh:

[bobbolink]

4. I need my BAh! Humbug! mug!!

I made a note to myself today that this is the last few days I can enter a store without going up a wall.

:nuke:

[napi21]

7. Actually, I believe it's because the retailers are trying to get a jump

on the Holiday Season and ALL THOSE DOLLARS! Retail has been sort of a slump all year, and back to school wasn't quite as profitable as they all had hoped. I think if they thought they could get away with it, they'd have started the Christmas songs and decorations over a month ago.

[SoCalDem]

8. We had Xmas trees next to Halloween stuff at our Target

Poor Ole Thanksgiving has been relegated to Rodney Dangerfield status..

[antonialee839]

9. Yes, but has there been any talk about the "War on Christmas"

yet? I can't get in the holiday mood until then.

[Initech]

15. He got an early start this year.

Have you looked through his book "Culture Warrior"? Half of it is just blasting various retailers who threatened lawsuits against his "war on Xmas".

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Did they ever take last years down?

[Frustratedlady]

11. Merchants are quite nervous and need all the help they can get...

whether it be early sales, getting people into the spirit of the holidays or what. November was the pits, so they have a lot of making up to do.

I've been decorating my house for a couple weeks. It akes a long time to get it done.

[kevinbgoode]

14. I've already written two major retailers and indicated that

I would not be shopping there this holy-day season - simply because they allowed such fringe groups like the American "Family" Association to bully them about their advertising in the faux War on Christmas. Naturally, I have not received any response from them - the only ones they respond to are the email campaigns of fringe religious organizations.

It has been very easy for me to walk right past displays at other stores wanting me to decorate in honor of Don Wildmon's dictated holy-day.

[MANative]

17. My husband manages a large retail store and

was informed by his District Mgr that he was "way behind" in getting his holiday decorations up - that was 2 weeks ago! In over 20 years in retail, Mr MANative says this is the earliest he remembers getting the Christmas stuff up.

[thingfisher]

19. This whole Christmas thing really is ugly.

First off let's admit that "Christmas" is not really about clebrating the birth of Christ. Christmas is nothing more than a mercantile holiday designed to stampede shoppers into buying massive amounts of Stuff in order to keep the economy afloat from one year to the next. DOn't get stomped trying to buy your xbox!

Chritians should be leading the War against "Christmas" by refusing to buy into the massive self indulgence of it all and the degrading of the original intent.

[MANative]

22. I agree to a very large extent...

Having spent nearly 20 years in retail myself, I well remember the "make or break" pressures of the 4th quarter - and it was all about driving holiday sales. Glad to be out of it myself, but hubby sticks it out because his company has decent benefits and he's been with them for quite a while. The holiday has certainly shifted meaning since I was a little kid. The last few years have been tough for us financially, as I'm trying to get a business off the ground in a pretty shaky environment. We've limited our spending at first through necessity, but now I find that we're focused on commemorating the holiday as a way to reconnect with family. The highlight for the last several years has been a really nice Christmas Eve dinner that my sister-in-law and I cook together for just our immediate family - all of 6 people. It's about spending time together that is difficult to do otherwise - so hard to get time off - laughing with the kids and sharing one or two very meaningful gifts to each other.

We do consider ourselves Christians, but don't belong to an "organized" church, and rarely go to a church service. Christmas is the one exception where we typically do attend a service together.

The one difficulty in the whole thing is that our entire culture has so totally immersed itself in the hype, that I don't know how we can get our from under it, except by our individual acts of personal defiance and purposefully redefining our own celebrations.

[Ice4Clark]

18. We met Santa today in the mall

decorations have been out since the end of July around here.

[Individualist]

20. One of my pet peeves: Christmas parades prior to Thanksgiving

[Codeblue]

21. I remember

I worked at a calendar store in the local mall last year. The day after Thanksgiving, the "manager" started playing Christmas music when she was working. I gave her a hard time about it until about a week before Christmas when I felt that it was finally ok to play it. Though, during my shifts I still didnt play any.

Anyway, we argued one time and she was trying to tell me that its proven people like it more when there is Christmas music playing. So I left it on one day. Every single person who came to the check out counter made a comment about how annoying the music was and how they thought I must go crazy listening to it all night.

The ones who didnt check out anything and just left empty handed, I also chalked up to annoyance.

[AZBlue]

23. I'm in a retail-related business - it's not OReilly, it's $$$$$$$$$.

Retail is hoping for a really big holiday profit this year.