You know the holiday season has begun when...

[spoonchicken]

...when you witness 5 teens running away from the Halloween store they just stole from. 4 seemed to escape on foot. The 5th jumped into a getaway car, and manuevered desparately to escape the parking lot ( conjested with motor vehicles, including mine). Almost sideswiped me on his way out. An employee caught up right about then and stood right in front of the car yelling "stop !". Dude went around her and was gone. Happy Holidays, everyone ! 

[froggy]

sad state of affairs, spoony!

[tigercub59]

Halloween/Thanksgiving stuff is out at Goodwill. 

[Txdiapered]

Can we just skip the holidays this year? This has already been a rough year and spending time with all my family is not what I consider to be fun…this year!

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

....When you anticipate being fed up to the gills with Christmas music by Thanksgiving

[Crinklz Kat]

The xmas commercials have already begun!  Old Navy is the absolute worst offender.

[Babygeebee]

As soon as we are done with Halloween up here the Christmas season begins in earnest. 

[~Brian~]

21 hours ago, Txdiapered said:

Can we just skip the holidays this year? This has already been a rough year and spending time with all my family is not what I consider to be fun…this year!

@spoonchicken@Txdiapered@Babygeebee

I feel like sometimes, that the holidays are the worst time of year for me, and the reason for that is all of the FOND and FUN memories i have of spending time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and others that are NO longer with us, and they always will be a part of me, and will also elicit positive memories, but I've been going through the wringer in some ways, and sometimes its REALLY hard to deal with the stuff rolling around in my head - My head's just been KILLING me, and today is the first day that I have NOT wanted to slam my head against a wall, because my neck and head were always hurting - The Steroidal Injection seems to have worked for me, but we will have to see how that works - So far, so good, but I do have another way to deal with this pain should this not work - we set those appointments for the next step in January 2024.

I agree with @Txdiapered:  I just don't seem to have the same zeal and energy this year - Holidays are fun and all, but I am finding that sometimes, the best medicine is to spend it with people who appreciate me, and my company, and sometimes, its hard cause im older now, and I SEE the silliness of the attempts to try to keep people happy, cause its impossible - I try to be a good son, but sometimes, I wonder:  I hate it when people hurt, or when  I supposedly did something, but can't SAY anything because it would cause trouble, so I am gonna IGNORE that ridiculousness - I can't deal with, nor SHOULD I deal with people or situations that make no sense, if I can't change or influence what people think/feel/do, and I'm too old to do this anymore ;(

You're Right - A rough year - I will remember what @DailyDi said:  That I "'should save my wind for those that appreciate it'"  Thanks Mikey

Brian

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by ~Brian~
Edited to remove duplication of post

[foreverdl]

22 hours ago, spoonchicken said:

...when you witness 5 teens running away from the Halloween store they just stole from. 4 seemed to escape on foot. The 5th jumped into a getaway car, and manuevered desparately to escape the parking lot ( conjested with motor vehicles, including mine). Almost sideswiped me on his way out. An employee caught up right about then and stood right in front of the car yelling "stop !". Dude went around her and was gone. Happy Holidays, everyone ! 

I hate Hate people that rob and steel, Why do they do it, well at least in CA all you get is a very short stay maybe a day, in jail, and then a probation, even for grand theft and I think that's over  $1000 now, anyway anything under that they may as well slap you on the wrist and say get out of here. We have bad theft here. The car theft is so bad they don't have a chance to catch them. If the people Us were aloud to shoot a Person that is steeling our car etc without us going to jail and then the criminal going free,,,,,, then at least here things would change. Yrs ago if you stole a $100.00 you were in jail, but jail is soooo over crowded that I hear a bunch of the same people going in and getting out in a day. We cannot afford to build more prisons so they just keep releasing them, if it aint murder they go free. We ,, in out small Town lose oner a dozen cars a night, and maybe more. 

You know if that happened here and the woman had stopped them no matter how she would get arrested, if for nothing else for impending traffic. I worked at a small store 40 yrs ago and I was robbed beat with a pop bottle and a but of a gun, and was held hostage in front of the store and I was wishing they would have killed the looser, But I am only here because the dumb ass had a gun that jammed and the cops put 3 slugs in him But he lived and I had to face the ass hole again in court.. I think he was in jail for maybe 3 yrs max,,,,,,

[spoonchicken]

22 hours ago, tigercub59 said:

Halloween/Thanksgiving stuff is out at Goodwill. 

I saw Christmas stuff on display and available for purchase at a Walgreens store in August…AUGUST !!!! wtf…

[rusty pins]

It's all how people choose to react to things.  A friend of mine once asked me over 40 years ago, "Does your boss make you mad?"  My answer was, "He's the carrier".  My friend's answer was that you make yourself mad and upset in how you choose to react.

Personally, I love the holiday season, especially Halloween and Christmas.  I will be the first one who agrees the Christmas stuff hits the stores way too early.  Profits!  So many stores competing for your every penny that they have to start as early as they possibly can.  Face it though.  There are a lot of people like me who really enjoy the holidays and they look forwards to them.  Those people are the ones who will be browsing the Christmas decorations in October.

I have very fond memories as a kid shopping with my parents, going to the 5 & 10 store buying the cheesy cardboard skeletons and reindeer to decorate the house.  Carving a big pumpkin in the back yard with all the leaves falling and a chill in the air.  My mom playing the old Perry Como Christmas records on the mono record player.  Even as a teen and guy in my 20's I remember the yearly trip we made to Christmas shop in Chicago.  What fun we had just waiting in anticipation for that day to arrive.  It was a 2 hour drive and we sometimes went downtown on the Mirical Mile but later we went to the huge shopping centers.  Remember, this was the 1970's and 1980's well before the internet when your choices were either shop the stores or order through the Sears and J.C. Penny's catalogs.  To this day I have such fond memories of these family trips I still run from store to store among the crowds to shop in person and support the local business.

Christmas day we had relatives over to our house in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to my Grandmother's house for a mid afternoon lunch.  She was an old German woman who make the best home made chicken noodle soup in the world!  Home made noodles so thin you could practically see through them, and the apple strudel!  To die for.  When she passed away when I was 13, my mom decided to  have those relatives over to our house as well on Christmas day to keep the tradition.  The food she put out!  Home made Swedish meatballs, chicken, candies, home made fudge, 14 different kinds of home made cookies.  Relishes and just about anything you could want.  Those are the memories I have of Christmas.

I could sit here and be down on the holidays if I want to.  Parents and 90% of the relatives and family are gone now.  Instead of 30 to 40 people over Christmas day crowding the house, we are lucky to get 4 or 5 people.  I miss those family trips to Chicago where we all took off agreeing to meet later at a specific time in front of one store located about the center of the two story mall to compare notes on what we saw and if so-and-so would like it as a gift.  Having a late dinner and getting home at 1am and unloading all our stuff from the trunk of the car making sure no one grabbed our bags by mistake!  All memories now, but that is all I have.  I can complain and be down and grumpy the whole season if I choose.  Christmas music blaring from all the stores.  Crowds of people.  Traffic.  Snow.  Buy gift cards on line and have it over and done with, then grumble that I have no Christmas spirit or not in the holiday mood.  I choose not to do that!  What do you expect?  You choose to complain about it all, the music, crowds, people, decorations and of course you're going to be in a really downer mood.  Instead, why not step back, relax, enjoy looking at all the holiday decorations, listen to the music, see how happy and excited many people are when out shopping for gifts for that special someone and if you are old enough, fondly remember Christmases when you were a kid or even young man spent with your family (and I do know many people have not had a good family and maybe their's was abusive - even more reason to do a flip and try to enjoy the season now).  How sad to me that future generations will only have memories to look back on when they are older of sitting at their computer buying gift cards and grumbling about the music, crowds of people and how Christmas is a Humbug!  

Like my friend was trying to point out when he asked me if my boss made me mad.  You have choices on how you will react to things.  You can choose to react negatively and go around in a grumpy mood complaining about this and that.  No one likes to be around anyone who is a downer.  Or, you could choose to find the good in things and enjoy the world around you.  Look at things positively instead and you will probably feel better and happier.

[ValentinesStuff]

When the "Back to School Christmas Ornaments" go on sale.

[dlsafrica]

Here there's Christmas stuff out before Halloween 

[Dubious]

People should take better care of what they buy so they can use the same stuff year after year and not have to buy new stuff every year. 

I don't buy any holiday items, as they are a waste of money. 

[thickdiaperedbaby]

Hope they are all caught, thrown in jail, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[Lil Miss Potty Pants]

I am unapologetically one of the people who creates financial demand for Christmas decorations to hit the shelves in August.

[Cute_Kitten]

Some stores had 1-2 rows of Christmas stuff in with the Halloween stuff back in July/ August. As time marched on, the Halloween/ Fall section slowly shrank and Christmas took over. Now it's fully Christmas with maybe a row or so of discounted fall stuff. Then a day or two after Christmas comes the Valentine's Day stuff. 😐