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It’s not even Thanksgiving yet

Christmas is already here.

It started before Halloween this year. I went into the pharmacy before Halloween and there along side the bags of candy were the Christmas decorations. Now in these few days before Thanksgiving, Christmas is already here with carols playing on loudspeakers in every store.  I find it amazing that my minister friends are unhappy about the holy season’s early arrival.

Advent hasn’t even started!

But especially when the economy is still struggling, retailers are counting on Christmas spending to bail them out of  a lack luster sales year.  So why not start the season’s buying frenzy early goes the logic.

For me I am always torn.  As a Jew in America I expect to be surrounded by Christmas cheer but on the other hand I wish I wasn’t bombarded.  I remember my father worked so hard during the Christmas season in his jewelry store. Extra hours that the store was open took a toll on him and on our family time. During the rest of the year on Friday nights, he would meet us at synagogue for services going directly from the store. But during Christmas time he worked late each night and especially on Friday nights and all day Saturday. I basically didn’t see him from Thanksgiving until miraculously on Christmas morning he was home.  A Jewish Christmas present!

I don’t begrudge my non-Jewish friends their holy celebration at all. I don’t even really begrudge the retailers their need to sell their wares as gifts. After all I have been known to buy a few Chanukah presents as well as Christmas gifts for those who observe!  But I wish there was a better way than to bombard me with the refrains of “Silent Night” for two and half months.

I do like music. I even like to sing “Winter Wonderland” now and again. But I would like to limit it to just a shorter window of time.   Oh yes, the weather outside is frightful…. but having to listen to “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is just as annoying!

So this week of Thanksgiving I will stay away from the stores. No Black Friday for me.  And I will hold off as long as humanly possible from the rush of the holiday present frenzy.  Maybe this is a year to make donations instead.

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