“From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it.”
The humidity has returned with a vengeance. I loved the last few days when a dry breeze swept across the deck and kept me nice and cool. Today, the mere effort of walking produces sweat. This morning I had to do some of the chores I’ve been putting off the last few days so to enjoy the weather. The bed got changed, the dishwasher run and clothes are in the washer. I’m soaked from the effort. My glasses even fogged when I was walking up and down the stairs. Thundershowers are predicted for tonight and tomorrow.
The intrusion of one season into another never happened when I was a kid. The dreaded back-to-school shopping was a late August event. My mother would drag us all uptown for new school shoes and new uniforms if we had grown out of last year’s. That pretty much signaled the end of summer for us, but by then we had already become bored anyway so the idea of school, a new teacher and seeing friends again didn’t seem all that bad.
September was a settling in month. It was back to the routine of getting up early, walking to school, coming home, changing into play clothes, going outside then coming back inside to eat supper and do homework. It was the same every weekday. It was a kid’s rut.
Halloween didn’t start showing up until October, and it was usually only a week or two away before the excitement started to build. What would we be? How big a haul would we get? We laughed and chatted and planned.
Thanksgiving was no big deal for kids. It was just a big dinner when you had to dress nice. The best part was time out of school. No TV ads pushed Christmas and none of us made lists. It was just too early.
It was a week or even two weeks into December before Christmas excitement began to build. We had the Sears catalog so we started circling our favorites. Houses were lit up with lights, and uptown was decorated. A couple of weeks before Christmas we got our tree, and about a week before the big day, Santa was on TV in the afternoon. Every day was one less day to wait, and we were filled with excitement.
Now, Halloween ads starts in early September and Christmas ads come right after. They get to be routine, even a bit monotonous. I miss all that excitement and the counting down of days.
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July 29, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Since Halloween never has become anything big here and we don´t have thanksgiving our Christmas ads starts already in early september. It´s mostly for comming christmas shows and for “Julbord” (a kind of smorgasbord with only christmas food on it). Julbord is extremly popular over here even if lots of people gets food poisoning every year 🙂 🙂 But no christmas withoit Julbord, it´s worth the risk 🙂 🙂 🙂
I can´t remember ever longing for christmas but I did long for the month of December. That was when our teacher was reading out loud from an interesting book every morning (a chapter or two). We lid candles and we all ate gingerbreads and drank Julmust 🙂 I can still feel the smells and remember how much I loved that 🙂
Tomorrow a SciFi show called “Battleship Galactica starts here on TV and i wonder if You know anything about it? They show it real late and if it´s no good I´m not sure I´ll watch it. I never saw the movie so I have no idea what it is all about really.
Have a great day now!
Christer.
July 30, 2010 at 8:05 am
I meant Battlestar Galactica, nothing else.
July 30, 2010 at 10:01 am
Christer,
Halloween is almost as big as Christmas here in the amount of sales. There are parties, costumes, candy and all sorts of outside lights. Even I decorate with monsters and such. I love Halloween.
Battlestar Galactica was the best show of all. I never missed an episode and was broken hearted when it chose to end. It was the most popular show on cable and it was only on the Science Fiction channel here. I loved it.
July 30, 2010 at 10:38 am
Ok, worth staying up for then 🙂 They show two episodes in a row here today.
Christer.
July 30, 2010 at 10:40 am
Christer,
Definitely worth it!
July 29, 2010 at 3:52 pm
I miss that excitement too but we are even getting ads for Christmas this early from stores we bought from on the net past years. I got one last week from the AutoGeek. Nothing I would buy for anyone but it was a coupon 15% off till Christmas. And here it is July. But the Sears catalogs were my favorites. We longed for the one we got to come in the mails. My sisters would fight over it.
July 30, 2010 at 10:02 am
Z&Me,
I hate ads this early, and I hate bringing into July. It was so much better when we were young, and the excitement build over a couple of weeks.