Where did it go?

Okay so the pooping dog totally screwed up my to-do list. My girls, in less than 12 hours, have become Barbie addicts. They have savored the sweet smell of a vinyl body and have felt the power of fully jointed arms and legs (these dolls are GI Joe's dream girls - well of course they don't have the slutty Bratz thing going on but really who wants the cow when the milk is free). Anyway, THEY HAVE BECOME BARBIE GIRLS (and to tell you the truth I couldn't be prouder - I loved my Barbie). Which means that some of the Christmas gifts that I debated about buying and then didn't are what I should have (got all that - if you need it broken down just send me a note - I can give you the paint-by-number version).

So while I was searching the stores for Barbie clothes (which barely exist anymore - SERIOUSLY) I noticed a very strange thing. This week, one week before Christmas, the dog days of the Season, the stores were almost devoid of Christmas. The trees, the balls, the glitter, angels and wreaths - GONE! The remnants already looking bruised and beaten stacked up in discount bins to make way for Valentine's Day. WHAT? It made me sad.

Shopping yesterday was like looking at the Christmas tree a week after Christmas when the once beautiful and glittery tree looks more like a refuge for homeless birds and wayward squirrels. I mean really, it made me depressed. I felt like I was sinking into the depths of post Christmas depression before the pre-Christmas euphoria.

So what I want to know is where did Christmas go? How can it be gone when it hasn't even happened yet? Are we so full of hustle and bustle that we can't even savor events as they happen? Do we need to look to the future bigger and better before we have even experienced the present? Do the stores have to start pushing Christmas on us in October so that by the time December arrives we won't care if they are cramming Valentine's Day down our throats?

Frankly, I don't like it. Frankly, it sucks. Frankly, I'm not shopping again until after Christmas when I don't care if the stores are screwing around with my Holiday. Their quest for my dollar has failed. They are not getting my last minute ching. I have crafts. I have glitter. I can scrapbook. I'll get by.