Hints of Christmas – in October?!

Yesterday I was standing in the check-out line at my local supermarket and noticed the nearby shelves – the ones you first see upon entering the store. THEY WERE STOCKED, ALREADY, WITH TRADITIONAL SPANISH CHRISTMAS GOODIES!! Really! Yes, I’m sure I saw what I saw. No, I’m not kidding. Would’ja quit asking me, I know what I saw!!

So here we are, October 5th (yesterday), just BARELY into autumn, and they’re already hauling out the typical Spanish holiday treats like polverones, turrón, mantecados, and marzipan! Good Grief, [A] Charlie Brown Christmas! (insert rolling-eyes emoticon here – if one existed) I couldn’t believe my eyes!

Do ya’ think they’re just trying to stimulate the economy by tempting us with the sweets we wouldn’t normally see until December 1st?! Is THAT it?! I’d love to conduct a study of their sales figures to see how much – and of what – of this Christmas stuff is sold from yesterday until Epiphany on January 6th. That’d make one interesting bar chart, wouldn’t it. SURELY it won’t start to sell in significant quantities until, say, late November, right? Dont’cha think? Am I insane-in-the-membrane?

I can’t imagine that elderly Grandma Crespo would be tempted to buy marzipan on her daily shopping shop until well into December. But maybe Junior Domínguez might just because he likes sweets and the Christmas stuff reminds him he’ll be getting the latest-and-greatest game console from the Magic Kings – economic crisis or not.

What do YOU think? Is it EVER too early to start celebrating Christmas? Should/Must commercial entities be required to wait until a set date before bringing out the next holiday’s stock? Am I a communist because I don’t agree with this degree of commercialism?