Can we please hold off on the Christmas music until at least after we have gorged ourselves on Thanksgiving turkey? I can’t stand it already! It was mid November and “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee was already being played by local radio stations! I knew there was a reason I generally renew my Sirius Satellite radio subscription 6 months at a time. Honestly, is Christmas (or “holiday” for the politically correct) music this early really necessary? This time of the year used to be special; we would get into the holiday “spirit” one holiday at a time. In the “before-time” we used to prepare for Thanksgiving by planning our trip to whose ever house, we would get the shopping list ready, we would clean the house for guests, all of it in anticipation of Thanksgiving itself. And whether we stayed home or we traveled someplace else for the “blessed day of the bird” we weren’t so anxious to “pull the trigger” on Christmas just yet. We would take in all the Thanksgiving goodness to its bitter end. The bird, the football, the pumpkin pie, the cleanup after dinner and even the long ride home, everything that was about Thanksgiving and only Thanksgiving. The next day of course…then, our attention could be diverted to the next “big day”…Christmas. But until then, there were no big “pre Christmas sales event” BEFORE Thanksgiving, and NO Christmas music on the radio! So, now skip ahead a decade or two and it’s practically Christmas in July! I realize retailers want to get everyone in the “Christmas buying spirit” as early as possible in order to “ring up” bigger sales. And since said retailers do advertise on the radio, I think I get the “jist” of this thing. I ALMOST can’t blame them, why with the economy as it is, but I think some restraint is in order here. I think comedian Lewis Black said it best about Christmas creeping into our consciousness earlier each year. He said; “…Christmas gets earlier and earlier each year. When I was a kid, Halloween was Halloween and Santa wasn’t poking his ass into it!” Maybe a bit crude, but it is to the point. So in the end, all I can say is; let’s not wish our lives away. Let’s just take it one holiday at a time and keep “The little drummer boy” at bay and focus on the turkey DRUMSTICK on the plate in front of us, if only for a few more days. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! And thanks for reading.
P.S.
Nothing against Mariah Carey :o)
