Christmas Too Soon

Published 4:11 pm Thursday, November 29, 2012

Those who have braved the crowds and the traffic to shop on Black Friday last week are probably kicking back and thinking either, “Why did I get up so early,” or, “Wow, I got some really cool deals.”

Ah, yes, the joy of the hunt can mean feast or famine.

Black Friday (minus the unfortunate attempts to kick start the buying on Thanksgiving Day) is the official start of the Christmas shopping season.

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So it begins:

Spending in earnest.

Fighting for close parking spots.

Long lines.

Figuring out how to wrap a new car. (Just threw that one in there because, well, it seems a lot of folks must get new cars given the commercials we're rather inundated with every holiday season. It just doesn't happen at my house, unless it's some sort of toy.)

If I'm sounding unusually a bit like a curmudgeon, it's that it's just rather hard for me to get into the Christmas mood just yet.

Thanksgiving comes before Christmas at our house, so no It's a Wonderful Life, Charlie Brown Christmas, or tree going up before the holiday that's about reflecting on immense blessings and giving thanks, eating too much, and watching enduring bad football games.

As I write this, of course, it's November 19 and what has given me a bit of the bah humbug spirit to start with is how some radio stations have already switched to an all Christmas music format. I wish I could say it wasn't so, but there I was in early November trying to tune in a station when through the static Bing Crosby was crooning “White Christmas.”

It's a great song-yes, I like Crosby's rendition (though The Drifters' version of “White Christmas” is pretty cool, too), but no, I was just not ready for Christmas.

Life is supposed to have order. “A” before “B”; one before two; Thanksgiving before Christmas. Hop, skip, jump. It's a rule; trust me. Writers know such things.

Rudolph should hide his red nose under a bushel until after Thanksgiving.

Frosty should know better than make an early appearance, given what happened to him with a December snow and all. (He could do with a cold shoulder treatment.)

And Santa should be wise enough to realize that it's tough sledding when there is no hope at all for the white stuff.

Before these characters truly get into high gear and we start adding more lights for the electric bill, hang the latest new ornaments on the fresh tree, and plug in additional lawn characters, a pause before the storm is a good thing.

It gives us time to say “Thank you, Lord for big and tiny blessings”-from monumental gifts, to being able to take a deep breath, walk across a parking lot or just to feel good for a single day. We are ever so muchly blessed if we merely look for those blessings.

While you're reading this after Thanksgiving, it's never really too late to say thanks.

And then it's on to…

Putting up the tree.

Hanging the ornaments.

Lighting the house.

Setting up the tiny villages.

And, yes, singing those wonderful Christmas songs.

All things in their time.