I really feel like I’m turning into some sort of cranky old woman. A lot of things annoy me these days that I used to pretty much take in stride—loud restaurants, crowded stores, cold weather, whining kids—I could probably come up with a much longer list. Honestly, I’m probably not even another birthday away from yelling out the front door, “You kids stay off my lawn!” You get the picture. But there is something else that’s been bothering me for quite a few years, so maybe it’s not entirely a sign of encroaching crankiness, but it is really irking me this year.
And just what is so egregious? The way the trappings of Christmas show up earlier and earlier every year, that’s what.
I saw my first Christmas commercial a good two weeks ago, maybe more. My Facebook feed has been peppered with people tuning in to the holiday movies on the cable stations for almost that long. And sometime in the past week, the local radio station that annually transforms into the Christmas music station on Thanksgiving day must’ve lost track of the calendar, because that transformation has already taken place, even though Thanksgiving is still several days away.
But the thing that really pushed me over the edge was when I was watching TV tonight and saw a commercial for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Yes, it’s a classic. Yes, I love to watch it every year. And, yes, if I’m ever lucky enough to have grandchildren, I hope it’s still being shown so they can enjoy it, too. But I don’t want to watch it Tuesday, when I’ll still be making plans for Thursday, otherwise known as Thanksgiving. That’s just too early.
I know that I’ve been bothered by this for quite a while, because when I wrote about it last year, it was really a recycling of a piece from years earlier. But it seems so much worse this year. I get that Thanksgiving is late this year, so all the advertisers and money-makers are likely worried they won’t have quite as much time to work everyone into a holiday frenzy and take every last penny from our pockets, but still. Rudolph in November? That’s just really going too far. I won’t be watching this year, because some things just shouldn’t happen. Not that the people who make these decisions care what I think, of course, They probably won’t even listen when I start telling them to stay off my lawn.
