Angie Marcos, LV Life Editor
Visit any department store and you will be welcomed by white glowing lights, glittery red and green streamers, elegantly dressed up trees, classical festive music and signs that remind you that Christmas is on Dec. 25, lest we all forget and Christmas goes uncelebrated this year.
Although Thanksgiving is still over one week away, the Christmas season has already arrived in the retail
industry.
It seems that figures of Santa Claus, reindeer, elves and snowmen in various retail stores have arrived even earlier this year than previous years.
I have seen Santa Claus in various malls sitting all by his lonesome since the very first week of November.
It just doesn’t seem very appealing to get children all dressed up in their most festive Christmas attire to go visit and take photos with Santa Claus on a hot Saturday in November.
Wal-Mart and Sears already have Christmas commercials airing.
Home Depot and Lowes have had Christmas decorations on the sales floor since October.
Starbucks has been using their festive holiday cups since the beginning of November.
Stores such as Nordstrom, Forever 21 and Macy’s not only have pre-Christmas sales, but also have festive Christmas music playing throughout their stores.
On the night before Halloween I went to CVS to buy candy for trick-or-treaters and instead of being swamped with Halloween decorations, or even Thanksgiving decorations for that matter, I instead was shocked to find that the store had been transformed into a Christmas wonderland.
Lights, artificial Christmas trees, candy canes, outdoor decorations, ornaments and more took up most of the convenience drug store.
One of the most exciting factors about Christmas is the anticipation all year long for Dec. 25 to arrive.
Stores should make Christmas seem more exclusive. They can do this by holding Christmas sales only in the month of December instead of two months ahead of time.
A neighbor of mine has already installed Christmas lights on his home. If we all start decorating for the Christmas season in October, will it really be all that exciting anymore once a few years have passed?
Stores have been urging their customers to begin their Christmas shopping for weeks, offering sales and special discounts as motivation.
As a procrastinator, I find it both extremely difficult and useless to buy someone a gift two months in advance of Christmas.
My family has yet to agree on what we will be eating on Thanksgiving, so thinking as far ahead as Christmas is completely out of the question in my household.
Since Halloween and Thanksgiving seem to not attract as much money spending as Christmas does, stores are taking advantage and advertising the holiday extra early this year.
It is already hard enough to celebrate Christmas in Southern California because of the warmer weather we experience.
I do not think pushing Christmas before Thanksgiving is necessary. Somehow Thanksgiving seems to get lost in the clutter of Halloween and trampled by Christmas.
Angie Marcos, a sophomore journalism major, is LV Life editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at angie.marcos@laverne.edu.