Oh, Christmas tree, put thyself away until December

My column, which won't appear until tomorrow's edition of the El Dorado News-Times:

It’s Nov. 16 — one week before Thanksgiving. But if you look around, you’d think it was one week ’til Christmas. The stores have long been chock full of Christmas items, and just about every aisle seems packed with shoppers who’ve put on their “Merry Christmas” faces.

It’s a scene straight out of a holiday movie, complete with gingerbread men, egg nog and those hideous tins full of multi-colored popcorn. You know the ones I mean: They have little puppies, kittens and festive holiday decorations on them. Aren’t those tacky?

I say enough already. It’s not even Thanksgiving yet; you still have plenty of time to find that special Christmas cheer.

It severely cheapens the holiday when stores rush out Christmas items more than a month before Dec. 25., and what’s worse, millions of people actually fall for it.

I preach this every year, but it seems like everyone is in need of another good sermon on when and when not to begin thinking about Christmas. The rule, as I have always understood it, has been the day AFTER Thanksgiving. That’s fair game. You can deck your halls, put lights in your trees, and shop ‘til you drop on Nov. 24.

But not before then — not one day, not one hour, not one minute.

What pushed me over the edge this year was a healthy dose of “It’s a Holly Jolly Christmas” as I shopped for new pants inside an area clothing store. I cringed, wishing that the speakers would explode so I wouldn’t have to be part of their little plot to get me into the Christmas spirit before I’m ready.

And even our own county is taking part in the much-too-early Christmas celebrations by lighting the Union County Courthouse tonight. Come on local officials, wait until our Thanksgiving turkey has digested before you throw the switch next year, please.

Someone has to take a stand and put Christmas back where it belongs — in December.

No other holiday is celebrated two months in advance, although this year I did see Halloween decorations out by mid-September. The only reason is so that stores can capitalize on even more sales, thus proving my point that the commercialization of holidays is sucking the fun right out of them.

In the words of Charlie Brown, who, in his Christmas special lamented about the commercialization of the holidays, “good grief!”