I walked into my favorite bakery. It’s a small shop, but the pastries can be relied on not to disappoint! But I had a surprise.
Every year they display a white, artificial Christmas tree. I have nothing against artificial Christmas trees. I have one in my basement ready to be brought up a week or two before Christmas where it can be decorated to boost the holiday feeling.
But the date was September 24. That happens to be my birthday, but I’ve never had a tree to celebrate the occasion. Sure enough, no birthday candles nor balloons. I looked at it to see what baubles were hanging from it this year. I didn’t want the bakery staff to see me staring, but it needed a closer look-see.
There among the tiny manger scenes, angels, etc., were strange things that required further examination. Tiny, tin, orange buckets had black pictures of Halloween cats and witches wearing pointy hats. Tiny brooms were fastened among the branches. Next, I could pick out Thanksgiving symbols: small turkey carcasses, cornucopias, figures of the early pilgrims. The bakery owners were pointing to the holidays we recognize coming up in the last three months of the year.
Halloween is a party time for the young and the young at heart. Thanksgiving is a time for family and being thankful (and eating too much). Christmas is a gift-giving time to remember the Greatest Gift ever given.
As Christmastime approaches, it may be that the bakery owners will remove all the extraneous items, so that the celebration of Christmas won’t be watered down. (And it might boost the sale of their fruitcakes!)
I didn’t know whether censorship or congratulations were in order. I guess if you become too busy to slow down to enjoy each holiday, this is a way to bundle. But it might not be attractive to sing Christmas carols, wearing Halloween costumes with turkey grease on our lips.
This made me laugh, but it really does seem how the retail world runs all the holidays together. In our local Walmart, the majority of the holiday theme is Halloween, but there are already several aisles of Christmas merchandise on display, as well as a few Thanksgiving items. Pretty soon, we’ll see Valentine’s Day and Easter added to the mix!