Dear Christmas Marketing Team,

I would like to remind you that Christmas does not come earlier this year. Unlike Easter, which happens on different days depending on factors best left to Wikipedia articles, Christmas has a long standing tradition of being on the same day (namely, December 25th). By most accounts, there are still 33 days until Christmas occurs. Yet, when filling up my car, I hear some random female singer's interpretation of the classic "Silverbells". (I've covered what I feel of these contemporary Christmas carols in a prior post). Now, I know that merchandising time frames are tight, what with only 30-45 days or so alloted to a particular holiday, but I thought it was a bit ridiculous to see Christmas trees juxtaposed with Halloween decorations. I'm sorry, but the only place where that should even be possible is the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas". What's worse is wondering which radio station would be the first to fire off the first salvo of 24/7 Christmas music. Christmas used to be a time of wonder and merriment, not of wondering which retail store would be the first to break out the Christmas goodies, or of wondering who is going to have the first 24/7 Christmas music. Heck, when I was growing up, only a few stations dared to play Christmas music exclusively, and these were the stations that normally played Muzak anyway.

So, dear Christmas Marketing Teams of the world, please refrain until AFTER Thanksgiving is finished to begin firing off your salvos of Christmas cheer. Enduring 45+ days of non-stop Christmas barrage is too much. 30 days was too much. I don't think I could bear 50+ days of Christmas.

Remember when Christmas in July was a joke? Sadly, I'm thinking it's not funny anymore.