Fuck Walmart, and fuck every other retailer trying to push Christmas shopping into September

Just so everyone knows, I've opted out of Christmas. I have no family worthy of the name, I've told all my friends I won't exchange gifts any more (because no adult actually likes the gifts they get), and my job requires someone to work on Christmas so I volunteer every year, and get the holidays I like in exchange, plus time and a half and goodies.

It can be done! If more people did this, there would be less useless consumption and less holiday bad taste everywhere you look!

🎅 No presents for you!

They're starting in September? Must be slow. I've seen some of them setting up Christmas in July.

LOL - it really is possible to avoid most of it unless you are a shopaholic and in stores constantly. Right now I'm seeing more Halloween decorations than anything else.

And why are insurance people going to hell? My husband was in the insurance business for over 40 years - I need to know so I can prepare him for his fiery future.

I never enter the halls of the many foods.

Gee, you'd love Home Depot more then. In terms of holidays, they're just doing Halloween stuff. At least during this month it makes sense. In my town they don't set up Christmas stuff until right after Halloween.

Dad and I were there just last night, and I couldn't resist seeing the new decorations. We bought some cute purple bat decorations with lights that will hang from our front porch alongside our little ghosts (I love those things, they're adorable). They will go well with the plastic jack-o-lanterns' and the real one I carve every year. I loved the skeleton dragon they had among the little, jointed, skeleton statues available.

We saw some amazing lawn decorations (stuff my family isn't insane or rich enough to try), like inflatable ghosts, the Sanderson Sisters (cute cartoony versions), Jack Skellington, a gargoyle, and a few other gigantic lawn decorations. Though why anyone would want an inflatable Ursula on their front lawn is anybody's guess. I'd say that they should bring back the black and orange inflatable dragon with fire in its belly.

The best statue, though, was this: https://corporate.homedepot.com/sites/default/files/2023-07/14_2023_Halloween_7FTMarshMonster_324039682_L_TIF.jpg The Marsh Monster :D Haven't seen anything like that before. Looks like a beast you'd find in the Louisiana Bayous in a fantasy/horror story. It's 7 feet tall! :O

Funny you bring up football. I am an American and I find all sports boring. I do not like having Christmas stuff put in stores so early. It makes me think of this meme I saw on facebook that said, "Walmart wants me to carve my Thanksgiving Turkey and put up my Christmas Tree while wearing my Halloween Costume."

I've been noticing the "Black Friday" rubbish, too. They used to wait until the minute Halloween ended, then the avalanche of advertising would commence and we would be bombarded with it all through November. Now they're starting this garbage in early September.

It's a shame the holiday season continues to be ruined because of materialism and greed. Halloween was spoiled when Congress extended Daylight Stupidity Time into November. There were rumors that the big candy manufacturers were behind this, thinking it would increase the sales of their products. They forgot that Halloween events take place after dark. So the kids lost a whole hour of trick-or-treating. I am curious if this is the reason why stores began selling the candy in the middle of the summer. Was this to compensate for the loss of sales in October?

The Halloween stuff now gets put up in late July/early August, "Christmas" is now being pushed in September and Thanksgiving Day gets very little mention.

Holidays are a time to step back and take a break from the daily grind. We need these days as a reprieve and a chance to recuperate. We need a special time of year to look forward to. This constant running in high gear 24/7/365 isn't healthy and leads to burnout. There needs to be a rhythm to life, and holidays help provide this.

A reminder for 2023:
• Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. is November 23. It is a holiday and not a day to conduct non-essential business.
• November 24 is the day after Thanksgiving, not "Black Friday." If you live outside the U.S. it is just another Friday in November.

Save the Holiday Season