Friday, October 29, 2010

Thanksgiving Comes First


I expressed my unhappiness about the retail "hocking" of Christmas here. Many of you have expressed the same WTH? feelings that I have so this might be of interest to you.

Blogger Jim "Suldog" Sullivan has an annual tradition that takes a position on this annoying trend-- He's standing up to premature "holiday cheer" hitting the malls and television commercials way too early and I'm joining in. You can too. Here's what Suldog says...

Should you be as incensed as I am concerning Christmas schlock, [hitting stores way too early] please post a "
Thanksgiving Comes First" entry on your blog. Write from the heart. Everybody who visits your blog will find out how you feel. My guess is they'll agree with you. Perhaps they'll also write about it, and so will their friends, and so forth. I hope that, if enough of us do this, we might make some small impact.

Please title your post "
Thanksgiving Comes First". If we all do that - use the same posting title - it will make a bigger impact. If you wish to reference this post, or other posts with a similar title, please do so. It isn't mandatory. I'm not looking to drive people to this blog. I'm just trying to make a difference concerning something that truly rankles me.


If you wish to use the snazzy graphic at the top of this page, or any of the other original graphics here, either on your blog entry or as a semi-permanent graphic on your sidebar, please feel welcome to do so. I'd appreciate it. Having a visual symbol that folks see repeatedly would be a big help.

You can read his full post HERE-- It's good too.

So what do you say? Do you miss the Halloween and Thanksgiving celebrations of yesteryear? Would you like to get into the Christmas spirit after you've carved the turkey? Let us know and post about Thanksgiving Comes First! on your blog.

Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins

28 COMMENTS:

Mari said...

I so agree - I'll join in next week!

Flartus said...

Oh yes! Thanksgiving has turned into a materialistic shop-fest, obliterating at once the warm family togetherness of one holiday and the spiritual reflection of another.

I worked at a Hallmark store in the early 90s and had to work a special Christmas ornament release event....IN JULY!!! I've hated early Christmas ever since.

Nezzy said...

Totally baby!!! It get's me every year when Wally~World clears out their lawn and garden dept. and replaces it with Christmas before we even have a thought of Halloween or Thanksgiving. I too say WTHeck!!!

God bless ya'll and have the most fantastic fun-filled HALLOWEEN weekend!!! :o)

Suldog said...

Thank you so much for the kind words, and for the post! Much appreciated!!!

Matty said...

The retail industry slowly moves this forward every year. It used to be that the advertising didn't begin until the day after Thanksgiving. It has been inching back for a long time, and has now reached the point of ridiculous.

Louisiana Belle said...

This is one huge pet peeve of mine. Not just the stores, but whenever someone tries to start making plans with me for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving, I always give my pat answer: "Let's get through Thanksgiving first, and then we'll talk. One holiday at a time."

tera said...

I know I was pretty outraged that Hallmark had their Christmas collectibles out when hubs went to buy my birthday card.
At the end of June!

deb said...

We have Thanksgiving here in Canada , much earlier, and so instead of waiting until after Halloween , the stores combine both now sometimes!

It's completely ridiculous.

And turns me totally off. There is a house very near us that uses a service to put up their Xmas outside decor and as this too is getting more popular, and they have already had theirs up for 2 weeks.
And yes, combined with their tacky Halloween stuff all over as well. What holiday does that represent?

Brian Miller said...

waving my turkey leg in the air in protest...smiles. its sickening..it gets earlier every year...

Scented Leaf said...

I like this quote “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”

Christine said...

I thought it was premature when I saw all those xmas decorations out at the mall today! You're right, Halloween is yet to come too.

Jillsy said...

As you know, I've already joined this bandwagon but I, unfortunately, did not title my post as such. I guess I didn't think it totally, through.

Anne H said...

I know, right?
I'm already three Christmas's ahead!
:)

Lori said...

Amen! I so agree with you on this. I am so going to do a post on this next week. It is a genius idea. Every year I rant about this to everyone...I do think we need to embrace each holiday as they come and stop having other ones pushed down our throats before we can thoroughly enjoy the holiday that is nearest. I am so sick of commercialism that I could just scream. There are people that already have their Christmas lights up and on!

Thank you for posting this so I could learn about this. I will be spreading the word!

Happy Weekend!

Gran said...

I'm so in, and just posted about this, giving you and Sludog credit.

lisleman said...

second mention of this I've read so it must be gaining momentum.

The real impact would be not to buy presents or shop until after T-day.

ladyfi said...

We don't have Thanksgiving over here in Europe, so the nearest thing would be: Halloween first... And that's way too early!

Luckily, Christmas is understated over here and the consumer hysteria doesn't get started until end of Nov or even the beginning of Dec.

Ca88andra said...

We don't have Halloween or Thanksgiving here in Australia - but Christmas does seem to come earlier every year!

My name is PJ. said...

It's in the TV commercials too. I noticed at the end of September the number of commercials targeting children with new toys increased dramatically.

I'm happy I never go into malls. Never. I shop on line and am not hit with the Early, Early, Early Christmas stuff.

Formerly known as Frau said...

I totally agree!

Cathy Clementz said...

I can't believe how much earlier each year things get set out in the stores! As soon as Chrismas is over, there will be Easter stuff!

savannah said...

i LOVE this idea and i'll do my post after halloween! ;~D but, seriously, between the mid-term election political ads and the stores ads for the thanksgiving christmas sales, i have sworn off network tv! i avoid the mall from november thru december! well done you & suldog! xoxoxo

Kim said...

I'm in. However in Canada, Thanksgiving is so early that some stores still don't have Christmas stuff out. We do feel that the stores don't let us have Halloween first though. Love this idea.

Ina in Alaska said...

I would even say Halloween Comes First! I find these early seasonal commercials and signage at the malls obnoxious!

Pearl said...

You and I are in wild agreement!!

Pearl

Happy Halloween!

Marla said...

I just recently griped to my husband about this very thing. I'm looking for fall decorations weeks ago but had to schlepp through all the Christmas stuff in order to find the fall items. What's wrong with this picture? Corporate greed!

Green Girl in Wisconsin said...

I'm with you 100% on this one! I ignore ALL signs of Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving. Let's give THANKS FIRST!

angelcel said...

Well we obviously don't have Thanksgiving so there is no brake on how long the countdown to Christmas should be. September was, I think, the earliest that I ever saw Christmas stuff being put out. And watch out! ...It's very nearly time for those hot cross buns and Cadbury's Cream Eggs to start hitting the shelves. (And I'm not joking)!