I always get fooled. Each year, round about August, a particular office supply store’s TV commercial has me running to the TV to yell “It can’t possibly be CHRISTMAS yet!”  Yes, it’s that one with the two children moping along behind their dad who is dancing through the aisles grabbing school supplies and tossing them blissfully into the basket as Andy Williams proclaims “it’s the most wonderful time of the year….”

     Then, I hold desperately onto September because October means. . . Christmas! Yes it does! Look at the stores–the Halloween candy is barely on the shelves in the grocery stores when a little spot begins next to it for Thanksgiving decorations. Before Halloween has passed, Christmas decorations have grown, taking the full stage by mid-November.

     And there’s radio stations. In the Philadelphia area where I live, one radio station goes all-Christmas music by mid-November. They’ve already announced it, reminding listeners to be ready! Others will join them right after Thanksgiving playing only holiday tunes. As someone who works in an office where Christmas is not celebrated, it becomes a real task to find music that isn’t about winter, trees, presents, Santa, etc.

       It’s not that I don’t like Christmas….it’s just that I like to celebrate it at Christmas time and I like to savor those special days of family and visiting and presents. I think when they’re spread out and begin in early October and last for nearly three months, they lose a bit of that specialness.

      So, I fight it! When my sister tells me in October that she’s halfway done her Christmas shopping, I give her my best cold glare and change the subject. When she announces at Thanksgiving dinner that her Christmas cards are in the mail, I tell her I won’t open it until December. 

      Then, in early December, I let loose–shopping and writing cards and wrapping and cooking and preparing for it. And celebrating… Or I end up writing on a deadline-mania-binge and end up beginning my Christmas prep in mid-December! LOL!

     This year will be no different I’m sure –  but I’ve already bought a couple romances that are Christmas-themed. I’ll put them aside, waiting for the right time.  And soon, too soon if you ask me, it will be that right time.  

      Do you begin Holiday preparation sooner or later? Do you like to hear Christmas music in November? Or are you like me, trying to hold it all back until the calendar tells us it’s actually Christmas? 

 

Terri is awaiting the release of her first BRAVA historical romance, A STORM OF PASSION, which will hit the shelves late next month.  She’s just finished writing a novella which will be featured in a May 2010 anthology along with Susan Johnson and Mary Wine. For more info, visit her website and join her email newsletter list – www.terribrisbin.com