Column:

Don't let Christmas come too soon

By Sami Hall

Published Nov. 3, 2009

I dread Halloween. Not because I don't love dressing up or like the extremely cheap bags of candy on sale the day after. I dread Halloween because of the signal it gives retailers to begin the holiday season.

All of a sudden, stores everywhere are bringing out all the holiday favorites including endless Christmas carols, signs everywhere proclaiming "Happy Holidays" and the overpriced perfect gift for Dad. The minute Halloween is over, stores everywhere immediately transition into the holiday season, and with it come all kinds of annoyances.

I am no Scrooge, but hearing Christmas carols sung by sub-par lounge singers everywhere I go makes me feel like saying some bah humbugs myself, especially when you hear them every time you walk into a public place for nearly two months.

There are only so many Christmas carols, and after a couple hours in any department store, you will have heard every single one. Hearing them once is more than enough for one holiday season. Try as you might, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" does not get any better the seventh time around, even if you change the singer and jazz it up a bit. In fact, that makes it worse.

So what is the hurry to start playing those songs so far before the actual holiday? It seems like stores start playing these songs the minute Halloween is over. They pass Thanksgiving, the nice, sensible holiday that is thankfully song-free, collect $200 from unsuspecting consumers and go immediately to Christmas. There is an entire month and a whole holiday separating Christmas from Halloween, but it seems many of us have forgotten about those pesky things called facts.

Then, there's the way retailers push people to spend, spend, spend. I am not so idealistic to think retailers should not look to profit off the holiday, but subtlety can go a long way in this department. Instead of shameless promotion of useless stuff people will inevitably return, how about promoting your great customer service? Why not talk about how your staff can help a customer pick out a great gift for someone? I know I would be more likely to shop somewhere where someone could help me find a truly good gift instead of one that pushes me to buy something utterly useless and undesirable.

From now until Black Friday, stores are looking to profit off customers unaware that during and after Black Friday, prices will bottom out. No one needs to buy anything Christmas-related before Thanksgiving, so stores have to convince people of the opposite. They will be working tirelessly to convince you there is something to be earned from buying your Christmas necessities before everyone else. (Is there even such a thing as a Christmas necessity? Perhaps they have to convince us of that as well.) I will let you in on a little secret: Christmas is always Dec. 25. It never moves. So buying things two months early really will not help you.

I hope I am not coming off as a Grinch. I really do love the holidays, but having them beat me upside the head kind of takes the mysticism out of it all. This year, all I want for Christmas is for Christmas to wait until December.