Whatever Happened to the 12 Days of Christmas?

I know I grew up in the South so I should be used to it. The tree going up the day after Thanksgiving and coming down the day after Christmas. Holiday music starting into the radio rotation on turkey day. Black Friday signifying the start of the holiday mall mayhem.

But what is with people this year? Is it just me or did Christmas start the day after Halloween? And why? The way Thanksgiving fell this year means we have the longest time between pilgrims and Santa that we possibly can and yet driving down the country road to my parents house on the Wednesday afternoon BEFORE Thanksgiving there were multiple houses with their lawn decorations up, trees lit in the windows and there were several holiday music 24/7 stations broadcasting "Holly, Jolly Christmas" and "Feliz Navidad."

Now I'm as excited about the holidays as the next guy. I'm eagerly awaiting the weekend to go pick out our tree and getting all of our Santas and snowmen and candles and garland placed around the house. I've got all my cookie and bread recipes ready to go. I'm lining up babysitters for our holiday hoorahs. But don't we risk holiday burnout by starting too early? Can't there be too much of a good thing? Are we all falling victim to the over commercialization by retailers fearing for their bottom lines in the face of rising gas prices and a declining housing market?

Who knows. All I do know is that it seemed to be starting a bit early this year, even for me.

Too bad with all this extra time I'll still end up not getting everything done I need to until the last minute. And to make it worse, I'll have had "Feliz Navidad" in my head for a month and a half. *shiver*