Too late for Thanksgiving

So what’s the deal with the holidays anymore?

I mean, you can’t celebrate one without being completely and totally inundated with decorations, supplies, and useless items for the next. For example, let’s take this Thanksgiving. My mom and I went to the store two and a half weeks ago (mind you, that is three weeks before Thanksgiving) to get some decorations for the house. This year, I volunteered our house for the big family get-together. Being that lately I have had this terrible bout of domestic tendencies, I decided that we should go all out and have the dining room all decked out with matching placemats, napkins, candles, and anything else that would help to get us in the Thanksgiving spirit. Being also that we didn’t have unlimited resources for this seasonal purchase, my mother and I quickly agreed that we should visit the “bargain” stores…Big Lots here we come! (“Big Lots Dictionary” definition of bargain= cheap junk)

Now there’s a reason that I don’t shop at stores like Big Lots on a regular basis. It can be quite claustrophobic. You can’t help but to wonder where all the people have come from, because not once have you ever seen them step foot in your neighborhood. But here they are! They kind of just appear there pulling things off shelves, leaving discarded items on the floor, or any other convenient spot, and clogging up the aisles. It’s as if the mere cheapness beckons to these individuals and they travel from far and wide just to save a buck or two, which they happily spend on gas getting there! Anyway, we battled through the crowds deep into the depths of the shelves and racks of cheap, gaudy, “Made in China,” yard sale-quality items. We soon found that there was not a single Thanksgiving item in the store. That is, not a single one that was decent enough to be displayed on our dining room table that didn’t exude “Big Lot-ness.” All we could find were Christmas decorations. Hello…it’s not even Thanksgiving! I mean, we’re talking THREE WEEKS before Thanksgiving, and we can’t find any fall decorations for the house?! Fall just started, didn’t it? I actually thought that for the first time in my life, I wasn’t waiting until the last minute…when IS the last minute anymore? For the love…

So we moved on to another store, Rite Aid I believe it was (I had to pick up my prescription besides). No such luck there either. Christmas stuff was all we could find. We then decided to try our hand at the more upscale, trendy, expensive stores. We crossed the street to Pier One Imports. I love that place, but unfortunately cannot afford much of the stuff in there. Lucky for us, they had a sale rack of Thanksgiving stuff. You know, because the season had already passed. So we gathered up an armful of autumn colored and scented candles. I love candles! Then we found some matching table settings, and added those to the cart. Fortunately for us, we were able to get out of there before our purchases could have the chance to disappear into the dark recesses of the storage room and end up instead as Christmas items in our basket.

After Pier One, there were just a few small items we had left to get. So, yesterday (the Sunday before Thanksgiving) we headed out to Michaels to get some silk flower arrangements and silk fall leaves for decorations. How could we even think we would be so lucky as to find anything remotely pertaining to Thanksgiving? Fools that we were. The few things we did find were fortunately on clearance. We were able to buy 2 silk potted flower plants for…get this…90% off! Because, you know, the season had already passed. We took the items, paid, and quickly hurried out of the store, just in case we got jinxed or something. Then we headed to Target, searched high and low once again through all the Christmas stuff, finally found the last few things, and headed home. Whew! It was ridiculous I tell you!

My mom says she can still remember back when the day after Thanksgiving marked the beginning of the Christmas season, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade would have Santa bringing up the rear as to sort of ring in the new Christmas season. But alas, it is no longer. Some “brilliant” retailer one day a few years back, got the greedy idea that he could steal some more sales and make more money by bumping up the holiday season. Unfortunately, no store could afford to be left behind, so here we are today, and you know the rest of the story.

So here’s just a reminder for next year…buy your Christmas stuff over Labor Day weekend, and Easter stuff at New Years. But if you wait until the last minute (and may God help you), you might be fortunate to find great sales three weeks before the holiday! You might as well just shop the sales this year for the holidays next year!

Happy Holidays to one and all!