Hark the Herald Catalogs Sing

The first Christmas catalog arrived in yesterday’s mail. Thank you L. L. Bean for being so swift with the reminder that The Holidays now begin right after Labor Day. Is this the harbinger of a year-long Christmas season? I am so old-fashioned I remember when folks were horrified if a hint of Christmas was to be seen before Thanksgiving. Go back even further, and in my home growing up, Christmas began on Christmas Eve when the tree went up and lasted for Twelve Days after the 25th of December.

Barely have the stores scooped the school supplies to the back aisles than Halloween costumes and candy vie with early Christmas cards and decorations for the displays front and center. And I expect a flood of catalogs in the next few weeks. All for naught as far as I am concerned. This will be a home-grown/hand-made/family-produced gift-giving holiday for me. I am not falling victim to the Mercantile Madness. The best defense is to stay out of the stores, ignore the inserts in the daily paper, toss the catalogs in the recycle bin on the way back from the mailbox, and block all the pop-ups coupon e-mails on the computer. It won’t be easy.

The MacLeod clan motto is “Hold fast” and I shall.