Did I MISS Thanksgiving?!?...

Call me Scrooge...call me Satan...hell, call my anything you want! But what in the HECK is happening in this country that we are now beginning to think about and celebrate Christmas on HALLOWEEN?!? I kid you not...if I see one more TV advertisement urging me to go out and begin shopping for CHRISTMAS, I may slit my wrists...or someone ELSE'S wrists...whichever is handy.

We have barely even stepped into the month of November and I am being constantly bombarded with ads, music, jingles, shows, etc., about Christmas...whatever happened to WAITING until Thanksgiving was at least rotting in our guts at 6:00AM on Friday morning before running the big holiday sales ads? I don't WANT my seasons this jumbled up and confused...and Christmas certainly is NOT a fall holiday! Bing Crosby did NOT sing, "I'm dreaming of an orange, leaf colored Christmas"...

I can certainly empathize with the retailers this year...it appears there is quite a scare that we gotta-have-stuff Americans may not be lining up at the stores in droves to BUY our gotta-have-stuff or it's not a holiday loads. Houses are going into foreclosure at an all time high once again and even the CANADIANS have reason to thumb their noses at us with the "Loonie" getting more than 6 cents higher on our overly circulated American dollar (and BTW, way to go you Canucks!). Businesses are scared...merchants are worried...our economy sucks right now...and we're still pumping millions of dollars abroad to fund whatever it is we are now doing in the Middle East.

But seriously...I do NOT need to be reminded in October (or even November) that Christmas WILL come again on December 25th. It's sort of like my OWN birthday...I haven't forgotten THAT date either in 43 years. And, like any other special date, anniversary, or remembrance of a loved one, it's probably NOT something most Christians would forget either...their anniversary of Jesus' birth...unless, of course, they're just in it for the "stuff"...