Holiday Decor Clash-O-Rama! JFF

Ok since I know all of the B&M is starting about Holiday decorations in stores so early, please allow me to explain why..

I used to be a Buyer, a Store manager and have been in retail, my entire working life.

Christmas is actually ordered at Market in January.. Yes, just as we finish the season, there we are at market ordering for the next Christmas.. covered in glitter.

The shipments of Christmas merchandise arrives in July and to save money most huge stores agree to accept the shipments in August and Sept.. Otherwise the vendors are forced to store the merchandise. Again the stores do not have room to store all of that merchandise till after Thanksgiving. Yes, they could rent space, but that would need to be added onto the price of the merchandise.

And it takes time to set up, hire and train the staff for the Holiday dept.. And so, That is why it is placed on the sales floor so early..

So please give us a break.. Understand there is a real reason for the merchandise appearing on the shelves early.. We are not there to drive you insane, quite the opposite, we are trying to keep the prices lower than they could be.

There was O. house on my inlaws street that left their pumpkins out right up until the week of Christmas. I kept commenting to myself everytime I drove down that street.
As far as the lights I understand that most are capable of taking them down, but I do know a few people who leave them up because they can't (elderly). Usually though they have the normal string of white lights...not the hanging ones. I was annoyed that I kept asking my SO to take them down and he always said "later." Finially I did it...two weeks into February! ugh.
I do have to kind of admit I was surprised to see Christmas lights up next to the Halloween stuff in Target, BUT I like to get all my shopping done early and don't mind when stores put it out early. I liek to be the first O. to buy what I want then I don't have to go anywhere near that holiday section. =)

I dont know why but it just drives me crazy when there are Christmas trees up at Thanksgiving, the decoration thing gets a little out of control. My holiday decorations go up at the beginning of the month and come down at the end of the month and i only decorate for Halloween and Christmas.

Even worse is mid February when the Christmas lights are falling off the gutters and hanging willy-nilly.

I once lived in an apartment complex that did that....
(I mean issue citations)

LOL, There is a house with a flat top roof in town, no shade on their roof at all. I think they had the bright idea that they would leave their christmas inflatables up on the roof and just blow them up the following year. Needless to say, it didn't work. Noticed they replaced them and took them down in a timely fashion the year they learned their lesson. We have purple lights inside above our sliding glass door. I put them up at christmas but they are shades of puprle and white so left them. We turn them on in the evening about once or twice a month. Sort of like candles ;-)

No, it is not just you! Seeing Christmas lights up on houses well past Christmas or even worse...all year round...is O. of my biggest pet peeves!

Which is surprising because I really LOVE Christmas and can't wait to get my decorations up the day after Thanksgiving. I guess by the time Christmas is done, I'm over it and want mine and everyone else's gone. LOL!