ARRRRRGH... it seems that one of my pet peeves is getting triggered earlier every year. I don't like taking my holidays "out of order", and so it drives me up the walls when I start seeing Santas, candy canes, and so on appearing in stores before Thanksgiving. Or in some cases, even before Halloween.

Late last week, Joe M., who shares my pet peeve, called to commiserate with me when he found that the "Sounds of the Season" music channel on the local digital cable network was playing Christmas music. They skipped right from Halloween-themed music and went directly to Christmas, ignoring any potential for music that could be connected to Thanksgiving or the season of Fall. OK, remind me to stay off the Sounds of the Seasons channel until the day after Thanksgiving.

But now the ads are starting. I don't mind (much, grrr) seeing ads that make reference to buying gifts at this time of year. But now, Overstock.com has a radio ad that's got a lot of "Ho, ho, ho"-ing all through it. They also have a TV ad which has an instrumental version of "Deck the Halls" playing in the background.

GAAH! I shouldn't be hearing "HO HO HO" or "FA LA LA" for another couple of weeks yet. When will these stores realize that it doesn't matter how early they start reminding us that Christmas is coming -- we still have the same number of people to purchase gifts for, and we still have the same amount of money to purchase gifts with?

BTW, last year I did about 90% of my shopping online. I plan to do the same this year, as it was infinitely less stressful and time-consuming than running around in crowded malls. Then there was the time and energy saved by NOT taking long drives to get TO said malls, or riding jam-packed buses with armloads of packages. You can bet I'll be avoiding a lot of agita this year, and doing my shopping online again.