Went in Home Depot over the weekend. It's Christmas.

they had all and i mean all of their christmas items on display....trees all lit up.....October 7th......

...they know what economists won't admit...Mr & Mrs America have run out of room on their credit cards...

so they can't use them as ATM's this season.

Christmas in October? No thanks, shoppers say

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Retailers are slashing prices to try to jumpstart holiday sales, but many Americans plan to wait until after Thanksgiving to buy gifts, according to a new survey by market research firm NPD Group.

"I spotted the first holiday set-up in a store on August 18th this year - that's nearly a month earlier than last year," wrote NPD's chief retail analysts Marshal Cohen. "Retailers are looking to start the season earlier but consumers just aren't ready."

http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/08/news/economy/npd_holidaysurvey/index.htm?cnn=yes

of GO SHOPPING, sorry, I will make my own gifts before giving these corporations money, let them shit themselves.

Our stores and malls here are on fire with the Canadian cross border shopping. Lately, it's really hard to even find a parking spot at most of the malls on the weekend. My brother in law's tire business is up 25% this year due to the exchange rate.

try to avoid repuke-think that, because it's going well where YOU are, well, things are going well for America

:eyes:

Put it that way, it's not that far off.

Buy now! :woohoo: Avoid the rush! :woohoo:

Considering that so many Americans have basically said that they're not quite ready for the annual spending orgy to begin, this strikes me as a move based on desperation -- or greed -- more than anything else. But retailers will keep Pushing the Envelope until consumers openly reject their "Christmas in April" sales. Nothing new, really.

The post above has it spot-on. No room left on the plastic!

So it's now been moved up about 2 months. That makes Christmas season last a whole quarter!

And while you are at it, make sure you have enough candy for Holloween.
I mean, after all, it will be here in three weeks.

Anyone wonder how desperate they are to make a profit despite the mortgage meltdown?
I am seeing a lot of x-mas these days.

Then I realized that decorated trees ARE Pagan!

about Christmas right now.

and just wanted to know what other's concerns are with it?

pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

BUY BUY BUY

crass materialism? american excess? need i go on?

reality is just waiting to spill out.

Maybe people are upset at the cheap, crass, commercialization of christmas and how it gets worse every year?

just like gay marriage does nothing to my marriage.

Thats marketing and advertising. Do you live your life based on what marketing and advertising tell you?

Whatever reason you celebrate Xmas for is your own. The system of Capitalism we have in play necessitates that companies have to press every button and every advantage they can reach to stay above the water. We have a system of constant desperation. That is what drives it. Compete, win, or die. And advertising and marketing is the primary weapon they have.

Tune it out. Its not your life. Want to put an end to it? Snuff it out by taking away the thing it craves the most. Your attention. That is what it is seeking. Deny it.

it's impossible to ignore - like religon, it is constantly in your face.

my mother is notorious for sending out birthday cards, christmas presents etc late

at one time my brother lived in Texas, my folks were in Mass. and it was christmas. true to form, my mother had presents for my brother, they were wrapped, but she never made it to the post office to ship them.

December went, then it was January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and finally in September she remembered to bring them to the post office.

because of the neighborhood my brother lived in at the time, she had them mailed to his workplace.

one nice sunny september afternoon - a box is dropped on my brother's desk. he opens it as co-workers looked on curiously.

taking the wrapped gift out of the shipping box, it's obvious that it is wrapped in christmas papper - my brother starts ripping it open

one co-worker says - "should you be doing that, I mean christmas is still a couple of months away."

my brother continues ripping open the package and smiles - "this is from LAST Christmas"..

...if then.

And why do I get the feeling that this is all O'Reilly's fault?

Small businesses use Costco to buy holiday decorations, etcetera. I formerly owned a yarn shop, which is exactly why I'd be in Costco in August, making sure my front window display for November was taken care of.

I might also mention that small business has a powerful ripple effect in most communities.

Julie

We have already decided to spend way less this year. Our family has decided to draw names when we get together for Thanksgiving and buy each other one gift only. That is it. Our family will not be assisting Bush this year as he proclaims,"The economy is growing stronger every day". Bullshit George. We are dying out here. Gas and food prices are killing us. We are all going to save our money this year and get back to the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas does not mean buy a big screen television or something.

:thumbsup:

of Christmas across from the aisle of Halloween at the drug store.

I was flabbergasted.

corporations more money, (sorry, I will not buy their BS) disgusting, it's not even Halloween or Thanksgiving yet, are they panicking because the public has no money to give to them.

We will get together, eat together, drink together, and be merry together, and perhaps give to a charity together, but there will be none of the burdens associated with this insane ritual called christmas shopping. Why the fuck run up credit cards for a bunch of chinese shit anyway? I have started a personal jihad against retailers until I start seeing more "Made in the USA" labels on goods, they can kiss my ass. The whole idea of Christams has been so bastardized, and cheapened, it makes me fucking puke. Christmas is Sofaking stupid.

on sale":eyes:

So true EB: "Why the fuck run up credit cards for a bunch of chinese shit anyway..."

I see the vociferous howls of outrage from so many on this site re: the "commercialization" of Christmas, but for most small retailers, it's the only thing that helps them pay their bills throughout most of the rest of the year.

I've owned a small business. I know what it's like. People scream about Wal-Mart, but they refuse to go to a local retailer that may cost a few pennies more. Frankly, I wonder about the motivations of some here. Big business is bad, small business is bad, bla bla bla.

We'll be purchasing gifts locally this year. We don't have a lot of money to spend, but I know that we will end up with unique and wonderful presents.

Julie

When I feel I must buy for Christmas, I do feel a lot better spending those dollars at locally-owned, small businesses. It's the WalMarts and such that make me want to stay home.

Local music stores, and local hardware stores are amongst my favorite places to shop.

It really pisses me off that according to these big box retailers, the only time one would EVER plant seeds is between March 1 and April 15.

in the big stores.

just call it "Boxing day", or whatever the original pagan winter fest name was. Maybe call it "Holy Retaliers Day". "Save The Stockholder's Day". "Flush The Economy Day". Iknow... "Support Chinese Labor Day"

in the super cheap bins to make room for the Christmas stuff.

Last year, on Halloween day during the lunch hour, people were running around the grocery store looking for last-minute bags of Halloween candy, only to find Christmas stuff....which made me very glad I got my bags two weeks beforehand....

Consumerism and the commercialism of Christmas has led my family to go old-fashioned.

Decorations: yes.
Gifts: no UNLESS truly needed (e.g. a new coat for one worn or outgrown) or homemade like food gifts. Cold hard cash is also welcome -- but not those effing gift cards that force you spend $$$ in certain places.

make signs saying WE WILL MAKE OUR OWN GIFTS,OR SUPPORT YOUR FAMILY NOT A RETAILER/CORPORATION.

There are some mom and pop gift stores around me that are beginning to put out christmas merchandise. Should I stop shopping at them?

So, everyone's evil -- even the Democratic-voting small retailers in our hometown?

Should we stop shopping with them, too?

Julie

Fuhgeddabout Thanksgiving!

though, I did see some stores with XMas stuff last month, too.

the LAST WEEK OF SEPTEMBER.

Hey, WTF?? What happened to Halloween and Thanksgiving????

But we live in a tourist area. The Rite Aid here tries to have "summer" stuff for visitors for as long as possible. Then they get in the school supplies. They may have a bit of Christmas stuff, but they haven't gotten rid of the Halloween candy yet... folks here tend to do last-minute shopping.

Or that it is reflective of some panic about the economy?
The Christmas shopping season has been extending backwards in time for years. Here's an article from 1998 talking about the fact that some stores put up their displays in September. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/comsite5/bin/pdinventory.pl?pdlanding=1&referid=2930&purchase_type=ITM&item_id=0286-5607062

There are any number of reasons for this. First, stores get their inventory of christmas product long before thanksgiving. If they've got the product sitting around in a warehouse or back room, it doesn't make sense not to put it out and sell what they can. Second, competitive pressure. If some stores start the season earlier, other stores are pressured to do the same to keep up or risk losing business. THird, there is the Internet factor. You can buy stuff year round on the internet, so brick and mortar (and catalog) stores feel the pressure to offer christmas stuff earlier, again so as to not lose sales.

I don't particularly like it, but I also don't read things into it that aren't there.

shrug: Nothing new.

I even made a comment to another shopper... she had a deer in the headlights look as to why I dare even question this

Ah yes, the same went on in... oh never mind... whenever I point the parallels people think I'm on drugs (with 1930s Germany)

Rush in stereo. :puke:

The transition started at noon yesterday when the new 93.1 FM kicked off with a "93 days of Christmas" format.

Maybe it's a ploy to attract the fundies.

I'm calling bah humbug on the whole thing. Like everything else in this country, it's been ruined by excess and greed.

:eyes:

they can put out all the Christmas crapola they want. It just makes you feel worse...

More and more, I want less and less.

I think there are plenty of people getting to this point...

How depressing. One reason why I really don't like Christmas much anymore.

In order to prove that we love our relatives and friends.

I have made fudge and mailed it to people for years, or ordered various cakes from Eilenberger's Bakery of Palestine, Texas. They are the only viable locally-owned business in downtown Palestine.

MUCH better than Deluxe Fruitcake of Corsicana. Their Pecan Cake and Chocolate Pecan Cake are like fruitcake with nearly all the fruit taken out, and replaced with nuts. Yummy!!



www.eilenbergerbakery.com