Christmas in December!

I remember when I was a kid, it seemed like Christmas would never come. It seemed like an eternity from the very first sign of Christmas decorations seen in department stores after Thanksgiving’s day to that magical moment Christmas morning, when all these wonderful presents appeared under our Christmas tree. It always was such an exciting time of year for me. I was the saver in my family of six siblings, and when my Dad would finally take me Christmas shopping, I had already made a Christmas list, and had formed my ideas of what I wanted to get for each sister, Brother, and my Mom and Dad. I enjoyed so very much selecting each gift from the wide variety of things at our local Pic-N-Save. Then on Christmas Eve, when all our Families got together to eat, eat, and eat some more, then open presents from aunts and uncles, I watched proudly as each sibling and Mom and Dad opened their gifts from me, I would go to each one after I saw their expression of what I knew was sheer delight, and explain why I thought that was the perfect gift for them. We also were allow to pick and open one gift from our parents on Christmas eve, after everyone else had left, and we had begged until we broke our Mom’s heart. I always had such bad luck choosing too, it was always some sort of clothes in the gift I chose, but I wasn’t allowed to choose again.

As I have grown up, it seems that Christmas seems to come much more quickly than when I was a child. I haven’t actually interview any kids lately about this, but I would think that it must be coming more quickly for them as well. The good news is that the department store owners have realized this as well, and I have seen a trend over the years to start the holiday season a little earlier each year. It started with seeing Christmas decorations out in stores just before Thanksgiving’s day. I can almost hear some of the older folks saying, “it sure seems like they are putting the decorations out extremely early this year”. And so it was, year after year as Christmas seemed to come quicker and quicker, the decorations were displayed earlier and earlier. Then it hit me this year when in the middle of September, walking through a store, I saw Christmas trees and decorations, and I heard myself say ““it sure seems like they are putting the decorations out extremely early this year”. Oh no, I am getting older. But anyway, I started thinking, if the retail world keeps up this pace, it will not be long until we actually have “Christmas in December” I mean really, it makes sense. I think that would be so cool, maybe the kids will get to experience the wonder and joy I did as a child, with a short time between the appearance of the season, and the day Christmas morning finally comes, it will seem like forever again, and the moment will be as magical for them as it was once for me.

Merry Christmas!

MFL