Last week I made a stop in Hobby Lobby. I didn't plan to be there long because I knew exactly where I was going to get my one little item.
I got to the aisle and came to an abrupt halt when I saw it was completely covered with CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS! In JULY!!!
To indicate just how old I am, I remember a time when putting Christmas decorations out in stores before Thanksgiving was considered bad manners. Then it became customary to see Christmas items on display around Halloween. Maybe it has been showing up in stores earlier over the years, but when did we start planning for Christmas shortly after the Fourth of July?
Initially, I was very offended by what appeared to be blatant commercialism. How can we be excited for Christmas Day to roll around when we have been looking at all of the stuff for six months?
But the longer I thought about this and began to see the bigger picture, I realized Hobby Lobby isn't the only one trying to recession-proof their seasonal sales. Apparently Sears, K-Mart and Toys R Us are all hoping people will plan their gift-giving well ahead of time in order to budget appropriately. Sears and K-Mart are bringing back the Lay-Away plan as a convenient way purchase the "must have" items on a limited budget.
So, despite the fact at the end of the day, it all comes down to the bottom line for these corporations, maybe there is a tiny bit of Christmas Spirit in there somewhere. Maybe someone buried in a cubicle in the corporate office was wondering how he/she was going to pay for Christmas and came up with this idea. Maybe, just maybe he/she thought "This would really help MY family....maybe it could help others too".
The Sears' Wish Book has been mailed, so if it arrived on your doorstep while the kids are home, their lists are probably already being made and parents everywhere are beginning to panic.
So, this crazy idea of decorating and advertising for Christmas in July looks like it is actually here. I want to believe that giving parents six months to buy and pay for that "IT" toy that will be cool about as long as the original batteries last is really a GOOD thing.
Even if this means I have to learn the new floor plan in Hobby Lobby!
