Eternal Holiday Cheer, With Perpetual Entertainment

I LIVE TWO BLOCKS from a Dollar General store, but of course, who doesn't? If you don't, you must either live way out in the country, or two blocks away from a Family dollar store, which will soon be taken over by Dollar General, which a year or two ago made a in e hundred million dollar bid to conquer Family Dollar. anyone know whatever happened to that? Tied up in court, maybe? All I know is, there was a time when damned near everything in a dollar store cost a dollar, but those times are gone. On October first, I made my usual walk (I will not drive two blocks for anything) to the store, to buy, best as I can recollect, either a bottle of PowerAde or a can of Spam, both of which are crap which I love, and I walked in, and noticed that the Christmas decorations were up. Christmas decorations, up, on October first. My first thought was: you gotta be kiddin' me. me second thought was: why should I be surprised? A whole isle, devoted to red and green wrapping paper, baubles, bangles, lights, the whole works. So, they plan to sell this stuff for three months. the best time to buy Christmas bric-a-brac is, of course, during the week after Christmas, to stock up at half price for next year. but most folks can't wait that long, so, on the first of October, out it comes. you can rest assured that extensive marketing analysis has revealed that this is the best way to do Christmas, profit wise. What will they think of next, Labor Day Christmas sales? or perhaps two for one, get your 4th of July fireworks and do a little Christmas shopping while you're at it? is there any limit to free marketing, capitalism, and the American way? Don't answer that. You will notice, or have noticed, that everything that makes money in America is now a never ending, year round enterprise. All professional sports last the year around; we are inundated in a perpetual football, basketball, hockey, and baseball season, all at the same time, the number of college football games per team has crept up from ten to twelve, with more on the way, and the post season playoffs are infinitely long. And so it goes with Christmas. I swear the time will come when first Christmas, then every other money spending holiday will be marketed and sold three hundred sixty five days a year, and you will walk into the Dollar General two blocks from your lovely suburban home, and browse through the Christmas isle, the Valentine's Day isle, and the Saint Patrick's Day isle, while on your smart phone, any of a dozen sports will keep you occupied while you stand in line, waiting for the computer to total your bill.