Holiday Mash Ups

Halloween was last Sunday. It is Friday, and we took a short outing to Target for a birthday gift this afternoon. We found the things we needed, and took the obligatory stroll down the "girl" aisle. Peanut (and Pumpkin really), love to see the baby dolls. They both hold them, carry and talk to different ones, and point out all of the cool things the babies have - like sequined diapers, or do - like play peek a boo with a cheshire cat like expression. We've of course moved on to having another aisle we must visit - the Princess aisle - where the kids can see all of their favorite movie princesses with their sparkly gowns and perfect coifs, and they can buy clothes "just like them mommy!".

Well, our little trips are always fun since the kids know that whatever they play with usually wants to go back "with its friends" so "someone else can play with it too". Thank goodness we started that early, otherwise that store would be an absolute nightmare. Anyway, the point of all of this is that after our usual rounds, we went down to the Halloween section as I figured there might be some fun things on sale that I could snag for decorations next year. Um, yeah. There were a ton of costumes left, and little else - but what I couldn't miss if I tried was the CHRISTMAS STUFF WAS OUT IN FULL FORCE!!!! Really. We not even really close to Thanksgiving people. What the heck?

OK, so the funniest part - well there are two funny parts. First, there is one aisle completely dedicated to Hanukkah. There were festive blue and silver wall and window decals, star garlands, make your own menorah, countdown to Hanukkah calendar, and all kinds of other junk. I saw a few boxes of candles, which you actually need for the celebration, but everything else was just random nonsense to try to force the holiday to compete with Christmas. For anyone not in the know, Hanukkah is quite a minor Jewish holiday and it's significance has only increased due to the fact that it is around the same time as Christmas. The second funny thing was that there were many people shopping in the Christmas aisle! I don't know about you, but I already have all my stuff for Hanukkah, Christmas, and Solstice for that matter from last year, and I am sure not buying any new shwag full price before freaking Thanksgiving. Humph.

Next year, I am expecting to see an aisle for Solstice and Kwanzaa too. I can't wait to see the plastic sun lamps, commemorative mirrors, and such they will come up with. Oy!