By Jim Studer
Merry Christmas… Oh, you say it’s only the last week in October? But, I keep finding a few of my cable TV channels running only Christmas movies. Some stations run a few Christmas movies on occasion. It can’t be October.
You say they are jumping the gun on the Christmas season. Okay, if so, how do you explain my hallucinations of last July? I kept getting Christmas movies in July. I thought I had lost more of my mind or had been transplanted to somewhere Down Under. It looked like summer outside, but all those Christmas movies. Then I paid attention to an ad that said they were doing Christmas in July. I was happy to have not lost all of my mind or my planetary location, but the whole idea of Christmas in July gave me a headache and an upset stomach. I used to be frustrated when sales ads for Christmas shopping appeared early in November. Christmas was about two months away. If I was the Thanksgiving holiday, I would be angry that the salespeople were usurping my holiday, which is important if indeed people do give thanks.
Now from what you’ve told me, I should be feeling sorry for the Halloween retailers and celebrants. They are being pushed to the side by Christmas ads and movies in October. Will there be any Christmas praise or joy left by December 25th? Will the angels be all harked out? Will the merry gentlemen of Bethlehem be so rested from starting in October that by December 25th they will have lost interest? Will the Magi arrive way too soon or get lost in the stars?