Christmas Alert!

Just for the record, it's August 30th, the outside air temperature gauge next to my desk is reading 101 degrees and the inside air isn't as cool as I'd like. I decided to head to the Mission Viejo Mall to take advantage of cool air that somebody else was paying for, and as I walk in the doors from the parking garage and felt the arctic blast of industrial strength chilled air (while silently thanking God for anybody and everybody who had a hand in inventing A/C systems), what to my wandering eyes did appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer...on the Christmas trees at Macy's!


Yes, you read that right. They're putting up Christmas trees in Macy's...on August 30th. Early Christmas decorations used to mean "before Thanksgiving", but now it's "before Labor Day".

There was a sign explaining that the MV store was chosen as the first of 100 to have the Holiday Lane section installed, and I'm sure they put that up to keep down the complaints. Still, the whole thing looked pretty silly to me - especially when I walked by them again on the way out and hit that wall of heat waiting for me outside.

Maybe this is what Christmas is like in the Southern Hemisphere where it falls in the middle of summer.