Skipping Thanksgiving?

When I was in the Navy, I was stationed in Naples, Italy for three years. The last full year I was there, I was wandering through the Navy Exchange one November day. I had stopped to look at some Christmas ornaments when I heard an indignant exclamation behind me.

"Christmas stuff already?! I am not buying any Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving!"

I've often wondered about that lady. I wondered if she managed to find enough to decorate her tree that year because I knew that by the time Thanksgiving was over, there wouldn't be any thing left. Sure enough, when I went back into the NEX a day or two after Thanksgiving, all that remained were a few broken ornaments and some rather bedraggled looking garland and tinsel.

We are once again coming to that time of hear when Christmas decorations are in the stores and "Christmas stuff already?" rants are beginning to throughout the bloggosphere. (Actually, they've been out, but I'm a bit late--as usual.) The common refrain seems to be that people are indignant that , for some reason they believe that seeing lights and decorations on store shelves somehow requires them to skip Thanksgiving.

This has got to be the silliest thing I've ever heard. Is Wal-Mart your religious leader? Are the store managers the head of your family? No. Then why would you presume to let them dictate when and how you would celebrate your holidays?

Stores are businesses, and as such they must think like a business would, not like a place of worship or a family would think. Now, I like Thanksgiving, too. It's one of my favorite holidays, but face it, Thanksgiving isn't a big holiday for the retail business. People don't buy Thanksgiving presents, or Thanksgiving costumes. They don't really even do a whole lot of decorating for Thanksgiving. From a retail standpoint, it just doesn't make much business sense to devote a whole lot of shelf space for Thanksgiving merchandise, except for food, that is. Christmas, on the other hand, is when most retail businesses pull in the bulk of their sales. It is, without a doubt, the biggest shopping season of the year.

"So, what's your point? " you may ask. "That doesn't mean they should put out Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving."

And I answer, "What about those of us who don't want to wait until the last minute to get things done? " I mean, do you wait until the party has started before heading to the store to buy the birthday present? Do you wait until dinner guests have sat down at the table before going out to buy your groceries? No, you don't. Then why would you have us wait until the Christmas season has arrived to begin getting ready for Christmas?

"Well, I don't put up my tree the day after Thanksgiving," you may say. So, does that mean nobody else should either? It has been a tradition in my family to put our tree up on the Friday after Thanksgiving, ever since I've had my own home. The last thing I want to do is run out to the store that morning and try to find whatever I need to decorate. Besides that, just when would you expect the store employees to put out the Christmas stuff? Should they give up their Thanksgiving to spend the day stocking store shelves? No.

The long and the short of it is, retail businesses have to think with a retail mindset. That means putting stuff on the shelves when it has the best chance of selling. Frankly, I like seeing the Christmas stuff coming out. I like seeing all the pretty decorations and hearing the music. That doesn't mean I skip Thanksgiving. In my house, the Christmas season doesn't begin until the Thanksgiving season ends.

I don't skip Thanksgiving.

You don't have to either.

No matter when the fake trees show up in the stores.