Well, it's official...

I have now seen two -- yes, two -- holiday-themed commercials on television. And it's not even Halloween yet. In years past, I've often wondered if I've imagined the consistently earlier arrival of Christmastime ads, or if they actually always pop up at the same time each year. But no, I'm pretty sure they ARE getting earlier and earlier every year. Doesn't it seem like marketers used to wait until sometime right around Thanksgiving to start pitching their holiday wares? And then the ads slowly creeped backwards to mid-November... and then they imperceptably inched their way back to the beginning of the month... and then the day after Halloween... and NOW they're popping up before I've even stocked my cabinets with candy for trick-or-treaters (which will never actually happen, by the way... I'll be sneaking out of the house before nightfall again... :)).

I propose that we do away with all this sly holiday commercial subterfuge and just bring everything right out into the open -- let's just run Christmastime commercials ALL year. I mean, why not? It makes more sense to start shopping early, anyway. If the ads don't start showing up until the end of the year, they only give you a couple months of reminders before the Big Day arrives. But what if you happened to be hanging out on your couch one stuffy evening in June, watching Scrubs reruns and sipping iced tea, and suddenly the TV was blaring Jingle Bells and an announcer was chiding you on your lack of holiday forethought? ("The year is half over already! Why haven't you made a list of holiday gift recipients yet? How lazy are YOU?? Stop the procrastination!")

Okay, okay... maybe that would be a little extreme... :) I've never been much of a procrastinator myself, and even I think Christmas commercials in June would be annoying... Or not so much "annoying" as "out-of-place." But how much further back in the year can these commercials be aired before they REALLY start feeling decidedly unseasonal? Half the fun of the holiday season is its brevity -- the fact that it's only around for a short time every year before we go back to our usual less-than-festive lives makes it fun to anticipate. It would be much less fun if it was a constant... but it sort of seems like that's where all these commercials are headed...

But they ARE a reminder of how quickly the end of the year is approaching... do I REALLY only have 60 shopping days until Christmas??? I guess I'd better start paying attention to those holiday commercials...