The Conical Glass: It's Too Early

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

It's Too Early

I was in a store yesterday and they were playing Christmas music -- something by John Legend, followed by that Josh Groban recording of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" featuring heart-tugging messages by U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. No retail establishment should be allowed to play carols at least until all the discounted bags of Halloween candy have been sold.

Believe it or not, I've got about a third of my Christmas shopping done already -- I've been picking up items here and there -- and am hoping to have it all done by Thanksgiving. I like to support my local merchants, but playing Xmas tunes in early November just makes me want to do everything online, where I can supply my own soundtrack.

Speaking of Halloween, this was the first time Joe and I stayed home that night since moving into our "new" house. We don't have all that many kids in our neighborhood, but I'd read that our town attracts carloads of children from other areas who come here because it's safe and presumably people here give really good candy. I was prepared with bags of Three Musketeers and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. We wound up with just under 50 trick-or-treaters, ranging from precious 4-year-olds dressed like princesses to slightly thuggish teenagers sans costumes who held out their backpacks.

However, some friends of ours who live in the ritzier part of town had 400 kids come to their door, and they told us about a family near the city limits who had -- this is not a typo -- 1,200. Assuming one piece of Halloween candy costs about 15 cents (though you can certainly get it cheaper if you buy off-brand stuff), that's $180 to satisfy kids from all over the East Bay. If I lived in that neighborhood, I think I'd buy four or five bags of candy, hand it out, and when it was gone, turn out the lights.

posted by 125records @ 12:50 PM

1 Comments:

At 11:30 PM, Janet A said…

WOW, 1200 kids. I am with you, turn out the lights at a certain point.