As we all know, Christmas is December 25th. But it seems to
arrive earlier each year. The end of summer/official start of autumn (here in
the northern hemisphere) was yesterday—Friday, September 22, 2017. We've barely
cleared the summer season. Halloween is still over a month away and
Thanksgiving is two months away. But none of that seems to make any difference.
As far as some retailers are concerned, Christmas is already
here. In fact, it's been here for a while. Yep…that's right. There are Christmas
decorations, Christmas cards, Christmas wrapping paper, and other things
Christmas in the stores next to the displays of Halloween candy and masks. I've
been receiving Christmas Cards—buy now
and get a special discount solicitations since August.
It's a little disconcerting. Winter weather is definitely
not here. There's nothing outside that even pretends to resemble the pictures
on Christmas cards showing the snow-laden pine and fir trees, pristine snow
covering the landscape (before it turns to dirty slush), and a perfect snowman
out there in the wilderness complete with top hat rather than the lopsided snowman
in someone's front yard. And there's the charming country cottage with the
smoke curling from the chimney and an old-fashioned sleigh being pulled by a
horse.
How can you even think of chestnuts roasting on an open fire
and Jack Frost nipping at your nose when the temperature for the last several
days has been in the mid to high 90s? I do realize there are many places where
nice warm weather is common at Christmas time. In the U.S., Hawaii and southern
Florida come to mind. And, of course, in the southern hemisphere Christmas
arrives in the middle of summer. But even with the places in the U.S. that
experience warm weather year round, wouldn't it be nice to get Halloween and
Thanksgiving out of the way before concentrating on Christmas?
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