Holidays and stuff... Here in the US (and perhaps at home in Canada too...I dunno its been a while) for some inexplicable reason, Christmas now starts in October. Before Halloween. I'm not kidding, stores around here had Christmas decorations out before Halloween, and the radio was already playing the "all Christmas all the time!" station.

Truth to tell...I'm sick of Christmas already. And we've only just barely got through Thanksgiving!

Christmas is not my favourite time of the year to begin with. One main reason of course is that I can't be with my own family for the holiday, and I haven't spent Christmas with them since 2000. Sure, I've got to have "Early Christmas" or "Late Christmas" but not actual Christmas. And I won't be getting there again this year at all, because I'm flat broke.

So, I'm a Grinch, and I'm tired of it already and I'd just like to crawl into a cave until its all over and done with, sometime around the end of January or so.

We've already had Santa parades here in North Carolina. A lot of towns had them the weekend before Thanksgiving. Kids sitting on Santa's knee in the middle of November! Just what the hell is this holiday all about anyway? I really wonder sometimes!

Don't even get me started on "Black Friday"! Stores opening at 4 freakin' am so people can get a jump on their holiday shopping! People get trampled trying to get into stores when the doors open. Such sad displays of consumerism make me ill. I'm sure they could sell just as much if they opened their stores at the regular hour. Why hype it and have people camping out in the parking lot just to make sure they're first in line?

I haven't even gone grocery shopping this weekend, I stay completely away from stores this weekend after Thanksgiving. And the very few holiday gifts I'll be buying this year will be purchased on-line. Other than James, no one over the age of 8 is getting anything this year. We can't afford it.

Some of our neighbours even put up their Christmas trees the day before Thanksgiving. Doesn't that just make it drag on far too long, and diminish the purpose of the holiday? It's like saying the same word over and over and over again until it no longer means anything in your mind.

Try it... say tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet tartlet ... it's just meaningless syllables now.

We get 4 days this year because the company I work for gives Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, and they happen to fall on Monday & Tuesday. Could be a good weekend to just sit and watch all the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings DVDs.

In the meantime, I have to somehow figure out how to drown out my co-workers radios. They switched them from the country music station to the Christmas station the other day. bah...humbug!  ¶ 9:41 AM