Today I realized just how quickly America jumps from holiday to holiday. Actually, I realized it last month when my co worker and I were shopping for our office Halloween party. We thought it would be a good idea to go to the dollar store two days before Halloween and pick up some prizes and decorations. We walked into the store to find exactly one aisle of Halloween items. The store had already "decked the halls" with Christmas paraphernalia. Two days BEFORE Halloween. That's when I started realizing that we can barely celebrate the holiday at hand before we start gearing up our minds for festivities and traditions months away.
What to do about it, I don't know. I do know that I miss being in grade school and dealing with the holidays as they come. Taking home flyers for the class Halloween party in October, tracing our hands to make pictures of turkeys in November, and making paper snowflakes in December. Maybe that's just one of the many changes in the transition from child to adult. Adults are responsible for planning ahead, while children only know how to live and think in the moment.
So, with less than a month until Christmas, my roommate and I are just now thinking about putting up the tree, even though I have seen dozens of families with lit Christmas trees and outdoor lights right after Halloween, a few even before! Maybe when I get to be a little older, and add a kid or two in the mix, I'll join the masses. Until then, however, I will be okay with waiting to "deck my halls" until just weeks before the big day.
