Its time to listen to the carols now....

It seems like the marketing world wants to extend Christmas well beyond its intended timeframe. I used to love Christmas...especially Christmas music. I'm enjoying some really good music as I write this but its the first Christmas music I've willingly allowed for the season...oh sure, we've all been bombarded with it since the day after Halloween but that isn't our fault. We, as normal well-adjusted adults, know Christmas music should be played a couple of weeks before the actual day and absolutely stopped at midnight Christmas night....I think it is an obscure law retail management chooses to snub. I also hate hearing about Black Friday sales beginning November 1st or earlier. Don't get me started on all the newly created annual sales competing with Black. I hate seeing Christmas decorations displayed well before I've gotten around to buying Halloween candy. My biggest complaint though is seeing Christmas lights after Christmas....come on, give it a rest. Santa does not need to find your house in the dark two months after Christmas.

As we've grown older Deb and I have settled into a wonderful Christmas tradition....we have Christmas with our family on Christmas Eve. This gives the grandkids a chance to spend the actual day with the other grandparents who give better gifts. Christmas day for us has become the day the decorations come down. Debbie starts in around 10:00am. She generally has all traces of Christmas tucked away by 2:00 in the afternoon. I help by staying out of her way. Its always a grand day for us.

Hmm, I seem to have drifted...back to Christmas music. I love Christmas music during the Christmas holidays. When I have to hear it beginning right after Halloween in every store or all day long from the radio across the hall from my office I begin to hate it. When I can't turn on my radio without Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree while trying to digest my Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas music becomes pretty obnoxious. Just sayin'....