It's Not Even December!

I love Christmas music. I can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving when I can blast my Christmas music and sing carols until my throat is raw. However, there is a time and a place where Christmas music is not acceptable, at least in my opinion. Last night, I stopped by a grocery store on my way home from visiting my family over the weekend, and I heard the distinct sound of "Silent Night" coming over the PA system. It was only November 1st, the day after Halloween, and this store was already moving onto the next big holiday to over commercialize and hopefully make big money from. It appalled me, and I quickly made my selection, purchased it, and left the store with a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't the song that upset me, like I said before, I love Christmas music...I just can't stand the fact that the holiday means nothing more to some people than a marketing gimmick that they can heavily exploit. I understand that a lot of retail companies rely heavily upon the holiday season to put their accounting books into the black, but honestly are we going to start promoting Christmas as early as July some day? Where is the limit? It's almost enough to turn me off from the whole holiday...but I won't allow it to embitter me. It's a wonderful, and heartwarming time of the year that hopefully reminds people of what is truly important. I just choose to wait until it's December before I start getting all excited about it.