Happy Chrisloween! Suffering from holiday confusion ..

The other day, when I walked in to the grocery store, I was greeted to my right by a magical display of brightly lit Christmas trees and colorful, animated Christmas decorations. As I turned the corner, I saw in front of me, a huge arrangement of large, orange pumpkins.  My 6-year-old daughter turned to me and said, "What is this - Chrisloween?!"

She was right - the holidays have definitely become merged!

It's October, so I expect to see the pumpkins and maybe a turkey decoration or two, but Christmas?  It used to be that we weren't exposed to Christmas decor until after Thanksgiving (and some people thought that was too soon).  That was half the fun of shopping on "Black Friday": to get in to the holiday spirit through the wonderful holiday music playing in the malls along with the magnificent decorations. It was a great transition marking a new holiday season. Now what is there to look forward to?

By Christmas I'm going to be so sick of seeing everything - kind of takes the fun out of enjoying one holiday at a time.  And what happened to Thanksgiving? I didn't see any Thanksgiving wares at this particular store.  Are we skipping it this year and moving straight from Halloween to Christmas?  Shame, because with its' focus on being thankful and on family, Thanksgiving is actually one of my favorite holidays.

The older I get, the faster time seems to pass.  Now that I'm forced to think about, and prepare for holidays months in advance, and on top of each other, I feel like I'm being forced to move my life along even quicker. Can't we just slow down and enjoy life in the present? I hung a fall wreath on my front door today and that's were I plan to focus for now. I'm going to do my best not to even glance at the Christmas items - it will be here soon enough! But, for those of you who are so inclined to hit the fast-forward button on life - Happy Chrisloween!

Comments

[Antonette]

I am so with you - let's just take a moment.

I love Thanksgiving. We make a big deal out of it in our family. It's the time of year I send out my client appreciation gifts/cards because it is typically the one holiday that doesn't offend anyone.

You know seasons are treated the same way. I remember last January looking for mittens (thanks for the pattern to knit my own) for my nieces, and the stores had cleared out the winter stuff and were stocking for spring/summer. It's crazy.

Time is moving fast enough on its own. Can't we just take a minute.

Thanks for letting me rant! :)

[Laura Jo Richins]

I totally agree with you on this one. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. It's all about food and getting together. Nothing else. No gifts to worry about. Just time with family and friends.

Can you believe October's almost over already? It just seems like yesterday that we were starting the VTP...

LJ