Post reporter Holiday rush has begun.
I was in Wal-Mart tonight on the way home to pick up some Halloween candy for the trick-or-treaters that will inevitably show up at my front door. (and some mouthwash -- and a Samsonite iPod case -- and an iTunes card -- blasted Walton family and impulse shopping)
I headed toward the garden section where all the Halloween merchandise and signs had been just two days before when I was buying a clown mask, rainbow wig, plastic cleaver and fake blood. (don't ask)
But the Halloween signs were gone. In their place were not Thanksgiving signs, but signs about Christmas.
I double-checked what day it is. Yep, it's still October, although the price of all the Halloween candy not being drastically cut and the lack of college students not rabidly scavenging said cheap candy should have been evidence enough.
When I went into the garden section to get a bag of fun-size Kit-Kats, the madness was confirmed. Right next to plastic pumpkins and people scurrying for last-second Halloween costumes, there was a display of artifical Christmas trees.
One can complain about rabid consumerism in this situation, but I'm prefering to look at the religious irony of this whole situation with a bit of a laugh.
Think about it. You've got the decorations for Christmas -- the day celebrating the birth of the son of God, of God himself in the flesh -- right next to the decorations for Halloween -- the day with the stereotyping of roaming evil spirits.
I had a laugh. Also, I planned how to snag some discounted candy early Wednesday morning before work.