So there I was, leisurely doing my shopping at Walmart this past weekend, minding my own business, when suddenly I heard IT.  Taking a minute to notice - then to verify - yes indeedy,  I WAS  mindlessly listening to 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' blaring from the overhead system.  Had I been in a coma?  Lost a week or two somewhere? Nope, it was, in fact, only November 4th!  I looked at my husband and we both shook our heads in disgust. 
Then to make matters worse,  the next evening while scrolling through our T.V. choices for the evening, what pops up?  The Grinch Who Stole Christmas!  Again, I shouted out #$%&!? 

Now I know a lot of you out there are more than overjoyed when Christmas rolls around, you simply love it, I get that - I'm the same about Halloween.  But I don't recall seeing Halloween ads and scary movies in August!  Has the 'marketing machine' gone a bit haywire over the years, or is it just me?  
Remember, back in the day as kids - when the highlight of the day-after-Thanksgiving was watching the BEGINNING of the Christmas specials - Charlie Brown, The Grinch, Frosty...dreaming of the long month ahead, making our wish lists for Santa.  I can't even fathom the hell kids go through now, waiting an agonizing two months for the arrival of the 'big day', as the media shoves it down their throats everywhere they look.  No wonder kids are coo-coo crazy this time of year! 

Yes, I am a tad bias, I know, as I don't 'do' Christmas any longer, but I would think for the people that do (and celebrate for the right reasons, not the commercialized reasons) this early shove-it-down-your-throat-earlier-and-earlier-every-year-approach would piss them off slightly, not to mention the pressure it puts on parents that are handed huge wish lists, while picturing their dwindling checking account balance.  Just how DO they do it?
I have to admit, I am SO glad my son is grown, and I do not have to face that pressure any longer.  I've long since detached from the crazy merry-go-round of guilt and debt in order to buy other's affection - and just in time too, as I fear the economy would of made that decision for me anyway. 

So does this early marketing tactic work?  It must to some degree, otherwise, why would they do it?  I just think there should be some kind of limit on when we are forced to start humming along mindlessly to 'We wish you a Merry Christmas'...especially while shopping for our Halloween candy!  
Even Charles Schultz made fun of the commercialized side of Christmas through his infamous holiday cartoons - and that was in the sixties!  Can you imagine what he'd think today?  I can almost hear him now, 'Oh GOOD GREIF...Give it a REST already!'