Honestly, I find it extremely irritating to walk into the local supermarket in mid- October and see Xmas decorations. Seriously, we just bid adieu to New York’s glorious September Indian summer. There is now just a mere sprinkling of autumn leaves first showing off their amber foliage, and Halloween hasn’t even happened yet! What happened to the old post Thanksgiving marketing push? It seems that each and every year they start the holiday blitz another week earlier. Retailers are in such a hurry to lure us into rushing the year with early promotional teasers. Hey, I’m all for holiday cheer but for a lot of us, I think the holidays create a sizable amount of stress. So why do we need to think about it, if we are not ready?
The only benefit for the consumer that I can see is that by forcing us to think about it early, it gives us an opportunity to perhaps organize better. The cogs on the wheel can begin to turn, encouraging us to consider things like; the gift list from the previous year, parties to plan, guest lists to manage, new recipes to collect, vacations to book (or cancel) holiday spending to budget, and maybe a chance to re-think and make corrective changes on those things we didn’t like last year.
For those of us who choose to delay all this holiday frenzy, it presents a greater challenge to ignore or deny, since the marketing media is everywhere. Some retail stores are now adorned with decorations, the thicker newspaper circulars are daily reminders to shop, the endless parade of catalogs are slowly cluttering our mailboxes, and some TV commercials are beginning to dominate prime time. You can run but you can’t hide. It’s in your face. Embrace the joy or be a scrooge, your choice. And for those who do get sucked in, at least use it for its greatest potential. Get organized because being more organized, both prior and during the holiday madness, might in fact reduce some stress. Jump in (even it feels ridiculously early), fire up the engines, and maybe, just maybe, the advertising mongols might have done you a favor.