How early is too early?

That is exactly the same way that I feel as well. You know in addition to the fall holidays, I also have both of my children's birthdays that fall between now and Christmas. With my daughter I would really like to be able to separate her birthday from Christmas, but that is impossible for me to do since she is a December baby. However, my son shouldn't have to compete with Christmas because his birthday is in October.

I honestly have to say that I wish it wasn't like that now. Of course for my daughter, it could have been a lot worse, she was actually due on the 27th of December but she had other plans and my water broke over three weeks early. She was considered a preemie, but just by one day.

I know what you mean. My sons are grown now but their birthdays are in November and December. Thank goodness things weren't like this back then.

I can't even begin to imagine the stress that you are going through with trying to pack with two small children in the house. But I know that you are going to be able to get through it and it is going to be great for you to be closer to family. With that said, I do think about Christmas shopping throughout the years, especially when there are great sales. However, I don't need decorations and Christmas music to make me think about my holiday shopping.

That's me, I will start thinking about my decorations after Thanksgiving Day, but I won't start executing until after Kathryn's birthday (the first week in December) because I do like to keep her birthday and Christmas as separate as possible considering the two are exactly three weeks apart.

When my parents where here they helped with the toddler. It's not too bad but there are days where you one will start crying then so will the other. Now I'm coming down with either another sinus infection or a cold. The packing is stressful but my husband is helping where he can with either taking care of one of the little ones. I always do some packing after 9pm because one is in bed and the other is almost always sleeping. I just realized we will be closer to our high school friends. Pretty much none of them have kids. I can only think of two other girls that have kids. One is is pregnant with her first the other has two little kids one older then my daughter and one the same age. I do looking for Christmas presents but I don't do the decorations or the music till some time after Thanksgiving. I can't get in the mood for Christmas till after getting fat on Thanksgiving day.

I haven't been to Walmart for awhile but I'm not surprised. I do love Christmas, but like you, with it starting this early, I'm not exactly enthused. The problem with starting so early is that by the time it actually gets here, we're burned out and it doesn't seem like the special time it should be.

Whatever you do, don't go into Wal-Mart. I had actually gotten to the point that I was kind of okay with the one Christmas tree. But then last week my best girlfriend and I made the mistake of walking in through the garden center at Wal-Mart and it was Christmas trees galore. I would guess that there were 25 different display trees and all kinds of different Christmas lights. You know with Christmas starting this early, I am kind of feeling like the Grinch.

That is exactly the way that I feel. I remember when I was a little girl that Christmas was so very special to me. Now that I'm older, I don't really feel that Christmas is as special and I do think that a large part of the reason for this is because of the fact that Christmas is a lot more commercial today than it was when I was growing up.

I have seen the Hlaamark decor that comes out in July in time for collectors,but so far it's been mostly Halloween.I don't mind that too much because Halloween decor is useful for general decoration.

You know this year I haven't been able to see the Hallmark ornaments because of the fact that I've pretty much put myself on a spending freeze.

I like to look them. And I have to wait until the season is closer also.

I can see where it might be something that would be important for people that are working on a budget. However, for me, I operate my budget in such a way that I will have the money that I need when the Christmas season is closer.

I love Christmas as well, especially now that I'm a mother and I get to see the looks of wonder on my children's faces as Christmas comes around. However, both of my children still have to celebrate their birthdays this year before it will be Christmas. My son has an October birthday and my daughter has an early December birthday.

Same here,my daughter has her birthday beginning of november. My two sons (twins) at the end of november.

I completely understand having the Christmas crafts available at the craft stores now because of the fact that crafters think about their holiday crafts throughout the year. However, those prepared decorations and such that I'm seeing at big box stores are enough to drive me nuts.

It probably is a cultural difference that makes the Christmas decorations come out earlier in the year. However, I really like to take the time to enjoy all of the holidays throughout the year.

November (after Thanksgiving for us) is actually the official start to the holiday season. However, I think that it is getting earlier and earlier with the retail market because they are looking for ways to beef up their sales because of the sluggish economy.

What I saw over the weekend was isolated in one big box store. However, there is no doubt in my mind that by the middle of October there will not be a store that you can walk into that won't be filled with Christmas decorations and such.

For us growing up it was always Christmas through December and I was okay with that and would still do it that way if my daughter didn't have an early December birthday and I want to keep Christmas and her birthday separate. However, the Christmas trees up in the stores in September and Santa Claus arriving at one of our local malls during the first weekend in November is just taking it way too far for me.

Oh, there are plenty of Halloween things that are available right now and that doesn't really bother me because Halloween is the next holiday that we have to look forward to. However, Christmas is still over three months away and in my opinion that is just much too soon.

It just really feels too early for me. However, that is probably because of the fact that we do have two holidays to go through between now and Christmas. We have Halloween at the end of October and then Thanksgiving in November.

We actually never put any of our decorations up in our house until at least the 5th of December. The reason for this is actually because of the fact that my daughter's birthday is December 4th and I really do think that it is important to keep her birthday and Christmas separate.

Now it would make perfectly good sense to me to see Christmas items at the craft stores because of the fact that crafters will think about the holiday throughout the year. However, at the big box stores I still feel like it is too early, at least wait another month in my opinion.

When it comes to my holiday purchasing, I will admit that I've been doing that for a while now. But I don't need to see decorations in the stores this early to convince me to do my shopping, I'm much more swayed by a really good sale.

We really don't have a lot of local stores around here, so I don't really know what they are doing. The store that I'm referring to is one of those big box stores though.

You are right about not being able to find any of the good stuff by the time that it is getting close to Christmas. Just like you, I'm already doing my Christmas shopping but that is mostly because of the fact that I was brought up to look for clearance and deals and thus I've learned to do my shopping throughout the course of the year.

I will admit that I have started some of my Christmas shopping for this year, but that is in terms of toys for the children and such and I have made all of those purchases on Amazon with my gift card balance. As far as Christmas music and decorations, those things are going to have to wait until after Halloween for me.

We do have one radio station here that goes to an all holiday music format, but that is not going to be happening for another month and a half, they start playing it on November first.