It's Chistmas Season Now, Right? Right!

Michael Glass hard at work on this year's holiday themed paintings
on the windows of The Coffee Pot on Broadway in Greenville
(From The Coffee Pot's Facebook Page)

The day after Halloween (or maybe before) we now get not so subtle reminders from retail stores of what is looming around the corner. It's now an annual practice for stores to roll out evergreen, tinsel, and a wide variety of fat men in red suits while simultaneously reducing prices on Halloween costumes and decor to a fraction of what they had cost just days before.

It's also become an annual practice for people to complain ad nauseam over the permeation of Christmas into the preceding months.

So now I sit here contemplating this on November 20th, a week plus before Turkey Day. Is it now ok to maybe tip my toe in the icy waters of celebration, or even to dive in head first?

As I consider this, sharing feelings of resentment over the abundance of holiday themed commercials and the seemingly retail driven extension of the season, I recall the feelings of last December 26th, and all of the December 26ths before it. That feeling of deflation, of relief, and yes, and a little bit of sadness at the passing of the season. I spend so much time during the season planning gifts, get togethers, (a birthday party), and all of our weird traditions and rituals that the season often blazes past in a rush of momentum that carries us through the end of December before we realize it's now "safe" to really sit back and enjoy the season.

I understand the reluctance of folks who see the season getting longer and longer in some aspects, I mean, when is "enough" enough? When I was younger (in the way back of maybe a couple of years ago), I held a firm belief that Christmas season could not start until my birthday, since my birthday heralded the beginning of December, even though Christmas time was my favorite time of year. Now? Set the your yuletide settings to 10 whenever you feel like it, which for me, is right now.

Anticipation of this weekend's Hometown Holiday Horse Parade has already set things in motion, but when you combine that with having recently rearranged furniture in our house only to realize we (somewhat) inadvertently made a perfect spot for the tree, seeing a post on Facebook of Micheal Glass' latest holiday paintings on the windows of The Coffee Pot, and an almost three year old who already is asking about Christmas and Santa and when it will all happen... well, I think we're going to have a "Thanksgiving" Tree that will turn into a "Birthday" Tree before finally fulfilling its destiny as a "Christmas" Tree, and I've already added my Christmas music playlist back onto my phone to enjoy wherever I go.

Are you exhausted by the notion of folks enjoying the holiday earlier and earlier (or is this even that early? Does it just seem that way for some reason)? Or are you just going to indulge in it with me and break out the mistletoe and stockings this weekend?