It Gets Earlier Every Year

By Meredith Brody

We used to tut-tut when eager stores set up Christmas holiday displays and decorations before the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving when they used to unveil their Christmas windows. In recent years red-and-green has come hard on the heels of Halloween, supplanting the orange-and-black.

But last Thursday, October 9, we wandered into Walnut Creek’s Cost Plus and discovered rows and rows of fancy ornaments...

We must admit, after the initial shock, we were tempted by an aproned Santa holding aloft a fat roasted bird on a platter – loving food-themed ornaments as we do -- but not at its $19.95 tab.

We know times are tough, and you have to gather your profits while ye may. But aren’t there already year-round Christmas stores? And hey, what about the Internet?

When we left with our non-Christmas-themed purchase, we asked a checker when the displays had been put up. “More than two weeks ago,” she said. Oy. Watch out, Labor Day!