With Every Season Turn Turn Turn

Retail stores are forcing the seasons to shift. In the peak of winter, new bikinis hang from the racks in department stores. In the peak of summers, the sweaters arrive and the stores crank up the A/C so shoppers will feel cold enough to raid the freshly folded piles of cable-knit wool blends and buy them at full price.

This fall the Walgreens in my neighborhood stocked the Halloween candy right next to the newly arrived rolls of wrapping paper. Every year I find myself thinking that there is a progression of events that should take place:

Mid-October: Halloween hits the retail stores.

November: Thanksgiving rolls in, turkeys, cans of cranberry sauce and jars of gravy are on sale during this month.

December: Christmas decorations are hung in the stores, carols are piped in through the store’s sound system. Snow should not fall until December. Period.

This year the retail community did not consult me on their plan-o-grams, however. Todd and I wandered into Target before Halloween and were assaulted with Christmas cheer and the “Boooooo” of the automated Halloween decorations simultaneously. As I write this right now, from my in-laws living room in Vermont two days before Thanksgiving, I am watching the snow fall from the sky. It has accumulated to 3-4 inches and is now sleeting.

Bing Crosby never crooned longingly for a white Thanksgiving. It sure is pretty, though.