Taking Down Christmas Decorations Already?

The Expanded Tweets posts expand on a short post on Twitter (or, a tweet), because 140 characters isn’t always enough to tell the whole story.

https://twitter.com/Burnsland/status/678948471953473536

Yesterday morning, I was walking through a store that I won’t name for their protection. And as I was going to check out, there was a guy on a ladder taking down the Christmas garland and bows above the cash registers. Yes, that’s right. On December 21. Four days before Christmas. The day of the Winter Solstice. Not that they appeared to be putting up Winter Solstice decorations or anything. Why would you take down Christmas decorations before Christmas? Well, I have a theory.

Brace yourselves, and you may want to sit down for this, but here is that theory: Most stores are just out for your money. Shocking information, I know. Seriously. I guess they are thinking that they have made all of the money they can off of you by “selling” Christmas, so now it is time to move on. Even though Christmas hasn’t arrived yet.

After all, the main people that will be shopping now are those last minute guys who haven’t bought anything for their wives yet. Not that I fall into that category. Although I may have been picking up a few more things. But at least that wasn’t when I started. And what do guys who are in a hurry care about Christmas decorations, anyway? After all, aren’t they just looking to get in and get out quickly? That’s the American Guy way, after all, right?

Several people commented on my post on Twitter and Facebook that they are probably already starting to make room for Valentine’s Day stuff, which is probably pretty accurate. In fact, in another unnamed store I have already seen Valentine’s Day stuff out on shelves, although they didn’t yet have any decorations for that holiday up. They are moving on from selling Christmas to selling the next holiday. If they could figure out a way to “sell” the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, I’m sure they would do that, too. On top of the special “deals” they have for that weekend, I mean.

And someone else pointed out that maybe the Christmas decorations couldn’t stay up any longer because they were so dusty from being put up in October, and that may be accurate, too. All the extra weight from the dust was probably straining at the fishing line that was doing its best to hold on for just a few more days, thinking something like, “A large mouth bass would be much easier to hold than this stuff! And I wouldn’t have to hold on to it for nearly as long, either!”

Remember those simpler days of our youth (unless you are still a youth, and then you probably don’t remember it) when the Christmas season would start after Thanksgiving and go all the way to New Year’s Day? Or am I just making that up in my mind that is getting older and trying to idealize everything that I think I remember from the old days? Surely not.

So with that, here is an open letter to all retail stores:

Dear Store,

Please do not be a scrooge and take down your Christmas decorations before Christmas actually arrives. People who happen to be out shopping in the last days before Christmas might actually appreciate seeing that you still have some Christmas cheer. Don’t just be in it to take our money. Or if you are just in it to take our money, please act like you aren’t in it just to take our money.

Sincerely, Steve

In a previous post, I mentioned not judging those who take down their Christmas trees right after Christmas, and I still won’t do that. But stores who take down their decorations before Christmas are a different matter entirely!

Let’s keep Christmas going all the way through Christmas!

Who knew we would have to say that?