Hey holidays, one at a time, m’kay?!
It all started for me when I was grocery shopping the last week of August and noticed something strange. No, it wasn’t the fact that I was *finally* pushing the cart solo with no child hanging off the side or asking when it would be her turn to push the cart (thank you school for starting again). Or the fact that I was shopping for my groceries at 7:57 a.m. which meant it was basically the lone checkout lady and me in the store.
Right in front of me was a Halloween candy display.
I immediately texted Lisa (moms can totally text each other random thoughts at super early times of the morning without it seeming weird as we have all been up since dawn) and asked her if perhaps I had hit my head and missed all of September or something.
I then came home and Facebooked about it.
After all, if it doesn’t go on Facebook, then did it really even happen?
We had barely finished the school supply shopping and then immediately found ourselves thrust into a holiday that was *literally* more than two months away. Our pool was still open for God’s sake. It was not time to start thinking about whether or not I would rather hand out Skittles or M&M’s. And let’s be honest here and say that the only thing that would happen if I purchased Halloween candy in August would be that I would eat it all by the first week of September.
I decided to channel my inner Elsa and “Let It Go” until this happened.
Thank you to my friend Robin for letting me use her photo as a visual aid.
Here is the deal, y’all. Unless your Halloween costume is going to be actually wearing Christmas pajamas, there is absolutely NO reason for these items to be displayed next to each other. You know what Christmas? Your turn is coming. Relax, why don’t you?
Apparently, I barely have enough time to recover from school starting before I am hounded to purchase my Halloween treats before I am confronted with how many more shopping days are left before December 25th. It just seems like too much, you know what I mean?
AGREED!!!! I thought I was going crazy this year, but Halloween candy/displays popped up Sept. 1st! Let’s just slow down!!
And yes, you can totally text another mom at 8am. That’s like noon in our world.
Totally know what you mean and think each year this craziness gets a bit worse and each holiday gets pushed earlier and earlier. Somehow, I wonder if we will see Halloween stuff int he middle of the summer next year, because it just seems like anything is possible now!
I know, it’s totally ridiculous. Our Hobby Lobby had Christmas trees in July. We can protest by not buying anything!
Please, please make it stop. Have you seen Pinterest??? Christmas pins. I am so confused to what month it is.
It’s happening everywhere. The beginning of October is too early for Halloween Candy and by the time Christmas is really coming around I’m going to be over it.
Lol I saw Halloween stuff on Pinterest since about June now I am starting to See New Year day pins I am like my gosh can we get to Halloween first.
I agree. I hate how fast Christmas stuff comes out. My Target already has a bunch of it out and I’m like ???
Ridiculous. Completely. And you know what? Even when Chanukah was the DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING you still didn’t see any Chanukah stuff. So. Yeah. This makes me cranky! 😉
Yes I totally know what you mean! I finally get why I think Fall goes by at rocket speed. By the time I am leaf peeping and drinking my pumpkin spiced latte, the stores are telling me about Thanksgiving, and before I even throw my Tofurkey in the oven every store is playing Christmas music. Someone posted that there were only *insert ridiculous number here* Saturdays before Christmas and I got so anxious, then I realized that the number of Saturdays was equal to more than three months away! Who starts a countdown for something, saying it’s right around the corner, more than three months away! Yeesh!
YES! Angela - your comment ROCKS!!!
Can’t even handle it. I almost want to refuse to shop (cheyeah rite). People, stop buying Christmas stuff in the fall. Please. I, and the rest of the moms, are begging you.
OK, I’ll admit I love Halloween. I wrote a totally frivolous post about it, but you are so right. Halloween is October. Thanksgiving is November. Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) is December. Why is this hard?? I love your visual aids.
What is with stores putting out the next season/next holidays things while you are still enjoying the time that is present which just happens to be a season or two ahead of what they are putting out. I won’t buy anything until it’s at least the month of the holiday.
In the words of my 11yo 6 months ago when it was still cool to say this, “cray cray!”.
Our school starts after Labor Day and they don’t release the class supply list until about 10 days before school starts. I am literally hustling every year to get to the store ASAP before they take down all the back to school supplies to make room for Halloween.
Ha! Yes, I knew I would love your post as soon as you told me it was coming. Seriously, next thing you know, we’ll have bathing suits out in October too. Can I at least get fat from my turkey before I have to start thinking about how fat I am?
Haha - most of the stores near me have FULLY DECORATED Christmas Trees up! No Joke!
As I was reading your piece and agreeing to everything, I realized that you make a great point, they probably know we are going to eat the candy and then come back and buy more. And I bet they know we will buy the Christmas gifts early and forget where we put them and have to buy more. It’s a conspiracy I tell and I finally figured it out!! Lol! Love this piece! xo
I was in Target the other day and they were setting up the Christmas stuff right behind the Halloween stuff. It’s like Thanksgiving doesn’t even exist! What gives??
Youo make it sound like a bad thing to buy Halloween candy ahead of time, then eating it, then having to buy a second bunch.
What happened to Thanksgiving? Is that not a holiday anymore? I think we just use it now to mark when Black Friday is. Sad.
I swear that retailers are going earlier and earlier every year. I love to see Halloween stuff in August. Makes perfect sense.
Um, so let’s just hypothetically say I was one of those people who greedily purchased that Halloween candy in August that perhaps it might be aiding this “early” retail problem…. Not saying I did this. but if I did I bet the candy was good though!!
We’ve got a couple of houses in our neighborhood who have already put up haunted houses.
What? I’m sorry but I’m shopping for Valentine cards at the moment and can only see Easter ones…
I’ve been trying to get into the Halloween vibe. But you know what? It’s just not there. Perfect example: we picked pumpkins on Saturday, but they’re still in the car. Oops. But then we already started planning Thanksgiving this weekend. It’s almost like the last three months of the year are just squished into one giant holiday season.
Insane! And you are right. If I buy Halloween candy in August there is no way on earth that it will still be around 2 months later. Mostly because I don’t want to hand out stale candy so to protect the little children I eat it myself…then buy more candy that has probably been on the warehouse shelves since July.
I’m with you! It’s WAY too early to think about Christmas, and all that candy will be stale by Halloween!
I’m about ready to let all holidays go. Ugh.
It’s so true! How can we miss them??? My mom and I always say that Christmas season starts officially the day after Thanksgiving. Or the night of is ok too. AFTER dinner and thankfulness, though. Like.. way after. Like midnight and NOT doing midnight Black Friday sales because that’s just.. too much.
That’s just me, though.
I am so not ready for Christmas! What happened to Thanksgiving? It hasn’t even appeared in the stores yet.
I agree - too much, too soon!!! I love Christmas more than any holiday but I don’t want the decorations and stuff out year round!!!
Agreed! Everything gets rushed through the stores. I don’t even want to think about Christmas yet!
That drives me nuts, too!!!! And the fact that they totally skipped Thanksgiving, too! What?!?!? Seriously! *sighs* Let me enjoy my back-to-school, fall and holidays IN ORDER without rush, please and thank you!
I mean, it isn’t even a rush, it’s more like hyper-drive, and like they are rolling them all into one! Let’s see that would be… Happy New Valentine’s Patrick’s Independence Memorial Labor Halloween Thanksgiving Christmas Year…or something like that. That’s just too much to put on a greeting card…Just sayin’! 😀
Y’all are fantastic with these comments! Keep them coming as they make me feel a lot better about my holiday rant!
OMG YES! holidays are so needy this year- like chill, christmas, we’re not going to forget about you! just because we’re showing halloween some attention doesn’t mean we love you any less! xo, everybody
Here’s the good news…About a month ago, I bought halloween candy on sale for 1.50 a bag if you bought four. The GOOD stuff too! I have been through three bags so far… and of course I bought a total of 12. Cause, ya know…
10 for me, 2 for the trick or treaters.
On the flip side… I seriously want to vomit every time I see a blow up Santa Claus already inflated at stores.
I was just thinking the same thing yesterday as I surfed pinterest and saw all of dang elf on the shelf ideas! My kid was talking about our elf…I lost him last year and had to make up one hell of an excuse for why he didn’t make an appearance. So I either have to find him or purchase a new one! Ugh! But I bet they are already out in stores…LOL
Amen, sister!!
I so agree! My husband would be applauding your ears off now too if he saw this-obscenely early holiday stuff drives him nuts!!