Like! Like! Like!

I haven't really shopped other than Home Depot so I haven't heard Christmas music yet. Their artificial Christmas trees and lawn ornaments, a section of poinsettias were displayed well before Halloween however. Trader Joe's, the seafood shop, and my dermatologist were not playing Christmas music last week 😊 DH just remarked as we were eating last night that a neighbor just down the hill had installed her outside Christmas lighting over the weekend. I hadn't noticed, I don't see her house from my kitchen and that's where I'd been since dusk so I was spared the sight for one evening.

I love my outdoor holiday lights and miss them after New Years Day. They stay in their storage boxes until the weekend following Thanksgiving - one holiday at a time and in order.

I love this season. I have two planter boxes on my front porch and once the plants in them go kaput due to freezing temperatures, which happened a few weeks ago, I put a couple of small evergreens with multi-coloured lights into them. They stay lit until May.

I don’t go into department stores that often, so I can’t comment on Christmas music in them.🤠

I do sing ”Let It Snow” and songs like that (much to my husband’s chagrin) when it’s cold and snowing or on still winter nights when the sky is full of stars and everything is so calm.

I’m not sure if that is rushing Christmas or not but I do love the lights and seasonal music.

Agree! Way too early. I ran into Homegoods the day after Halloween and Christmas music was already playing.

I could not agree more. We’ve had unseasonably warm weatehr here and there is nothing quite like going into a store when its 80 degrees out and see snowmen.

I went to CVS for some Halloweeen candy and they already habe a full on Christmas display. I should have handed out candy canes instead of Reese’s pb cups.

I totally agree! Even worse, I went into a store last weekend and it was already scented with what I think of as "migraine smell." I've always thought that if you don't like the way something looks, you can look away. If you don't like the feel of something, don't touch it. If you don't like the taste, you don't have to eat it. But there is no way to turn off the senses of hearing and smell. We just have to suffer through it.

Well, my handbell ensemble started working on our holiday concert in August, so I have definitely been in that mode. Fortunately, some of the arrangements are amazing so I don’t mind that!

I don’t mind lights going up early as long as they aren’t on yet. It times time to prepare. But decorations up in October, well, if it is to celebrate with family and friends who won’t be together in December, that’s one thing. But the mingling of Christmas at one house and Autumn and Thanksgiving next door is jarring.

The music in stores supplants the ”music of my life” 70s and 80s I’ve been hearing for several years and I want those great classics back! Besides, the holiday music track is all. the. same. Same singers, same arrangments, There’s a lot of great music out there, secular, seasonal, and meaningful, let’s hear it!

Our tree is up because I won a Balsam Hill tree and wanted to see it. We decorated it for Halloween!

“A fully lit Christmas tree -- on Halloween!!”

I know someone who keeps hers up year round!😵‍💫

Jupi, those cinnamon scented pine cones that are right by the entrance of every grocery store! Who buys those things? That scent makes me ill.

If the in-store music isn't to your liking, get a pair of earbuds and listen to your own music or audio content. Problem solved.

It's not just the music that's annoying - I've seen Holiday commercials on TV since Halloween. Way too early.

It seemed like 75% of my Homegoods store was Xmas stuff, primarily all made in China. Wild enormous objects promoting bigger is better and yes they were blaring Xmas music.

chloe ~ I resemble that remark!! ^^^ 6 years ago, I found the perfect-for-ME artificial tree online that truly looks realistic with enough interior space between branches for my ornaments to display all the way in to the trunk (which is a real wood one) instead of merely on the surface. I loved my arrangement of hundreds of ornaments SO much, that I have never taken it down (probably couldn't find the boxes everything belongs in for storage, anyway, by this time).

And there it stays, still making me happy. It isn't lit until Christmas is near, and looks fantastic if I do say so. Nobody is offended by this little eccentricity of mine, not that I would care if they were (I'm working on developing more eccentricities as I age, just for the pure fun and joy of doing so, and to make my adult children roll their eyes. Just need to create some...)

As for outdoor lights, here in New England it is a good thing to get them placed around now, before the frigid temps make that job miserable. When we festoon the shrubbery with white fairy lights, we leave them lit all winter to keep our spirits up through the dark months. =)

Shhhh -- I have been know to play Christmas music, which I adore, in midsummer... so shoot me! But I do agree that I do not want to hear it in stores now. <grin>

This thread as with the other one today about political ads are an unnecessary reminder that there is far too much anger going around these days. There's no need to rant.

It's good practice to try to go through each day with a smile. You want to make me mad? Don't bother, you'll fail. Want me to get worked up because I don't like a TV spot or music in a store that I can walk into and out of in a matter of minutes? Nope, won't happen. Cut me off on the freeway or drive inconsiderately and want me to yell, shake a fist and sit on the horn? Nope, that won't happen either.

If something comes up that could trigger a reaction, take a deep breath, think of something that makes you happy, and move on without letting it bother you. Try it. Really. It's not that hard to keep your annoyance level in check.

Edit to add:

I love many kinds of music but I don't care for Christmas music. When I hear it, I tune it out.

For a number of years I had a recurring public music gig and had to play it a few evenings each year. I didn't look forward to it but hey, people were listening to what I was doing and that was enough to make it pleasant for me.

Elmer -- This is harmless venting. Displaced anxieties have to erupt somewhere. It's OK with me. At least no dogs are getting kicked, nor crockery hurled.

Christmas music has not yet reached this part of the world yet (N.E. OH) but just today I heard the church bells that are two streets away play O come O come Emmanuel and it sounded pretty nice on a warm fall day!

This seems like the perfect thread for my question. This is not really a rant just a curiosity.

When did gnomes become Christmas decor? Is it from a kids movie that I never saw? Something else? The last few years I have seen more gnomes than santas. Good luck finding a classic Santa in a red suit 😂 this is how I have discovered the new gnome thing. What’s up with the gnomes?

“And there it stays, still making me happy.”

roxanna, that’s what counts most!🎄☺️ It was definitely a conversation piece the rest of the year for my neighbor!

" Elmer -- This is harmless venting. "

chisue, that was my comment. No one should lose their temper over something so unimportant. No need to vent.

I find myself agreeing with arcy insofar as it's inconsiderate and rude to gripe at a cashier, no matter whether the problem is real or, as in this situation, not really a problem. The cashier is at the lowest rung of the store's ladder, has no involvement with such decisions and isn't paid enough to care. The cashier stayed on task and tried to politely redirect the conversation. Boo on the OP for continuing. You made the cashier's list of "needlessly crabby customers" for that day.

The location manager likely has no say in the matter either. It's a "take it or leave it" choice.

I love Christmas Music. I listen all year off and on. And I get very happy when I hear it on the radio or in stores. The Christmas season, to me, is too short and flies by too fast.

I guess I can understand why one might be annoyed at what a store serving a large amount of people might choose to do holiday wise, I do NOT understand the comments here speaking with such disdain about what people choose to do in their own homes and yards. That's just weird.

I remember during my first job at Subway, at age 15. I would get yelled at or whined to by whole adults about things that I had no control over. The store didn't accept a certain coupon, I got yelled at, they were unhappy about the amount of meat on the sandwich, I got yelled at. It was a corporate formula, calculated for food cost and such. What could I do about that, other than offer to add more at an added charge. Also, not in charge of prices, still got whined at for them. And yes, the music. No one was ever happy with the music. Every time I got raged at by an angry adult over such things I would think "Are you dumb? What am I supposed to do about it?" Things like that would absolutely ruin my whole day because I was a people pleaser back then, and it did make me feel powerless and an utter failure. Glad I grew out of that. Now, when, for example, in my current job, I have to enforce a rule or a LAW for heavens sake, and one of the drivers gets mad, I do ask them if they are dumb, and if they think that I make the laws dictating how heavy they can be? Or if I make the policy that they cant be on their phone while they are loading or whatever it is? That usually makes them calm down. But the actual dumb ones keep going. Doesn't ruin my day anymore though. Looking back now at my Subway days, those people should really be ashamed of themselves. And they should have just stayed home and made their own stupid sandwich how THEY like it, and played whatever music they wanted while eating it.

But back to the topic, sort off. Stores cater to the majority. Clearly, something is giving them the impression that people are eager to kick off the celebrations. But its a trade off.

Happy people spend money. Unhappy people make noise. Do you think the people who benefit from the happy ones care about the people that have to deal with the noise? Here's a hint: no.

"You crabbed at a minimum wage lackey about something that they didn't have opinion one about let alone power to change it??"

"The cashier is at the lowest rung of the store's ladder, has no involvement with such decisions and isn't paid enough to care."

Not necessarily true. There is a chain of stores by me where the floor crew chooses the music -- so if a customer complains about the choice or the volume, they do have the power to change it or dial it down.

"NO ONE CARES how you FEEEEL they care how you spend your money..."

Oftentimes, how one feels dictates whether or not they spend money. Not that it matters, but in this store on that day, the music was such a turn-off that I didn't buy anything.