It started on November 1, the day after Hallowe'en. Department stores and supermarkets began whisking away the shockingly overpriced and over-packaged candies and costumes, and stocking the shelves with shockingly overpriced and over-packaged Christmas decorations, candy, and gift items. Television commercials began to feature Xmas music and Santa Claus. We've now been subjected to them for a full month; there's still a full month to go.

Already we've had time not only to exchange our energy-wasting Xmas lights for new eco-friendly LED's, but also to have a recall of those new LED's because of manufacturing defects. The advent of plastic Christmas trees has allowed USians to start putting up Xmas decorations right after Thanksgiving, without having their "tree" lose all its needles by mid-December.

Everywhere you turn there's another nagging reminder that you still haven't spent enough money to absolutely ensure the happiness of yourself and your loved ones.

Why do we have to endure this for a full one-sixth of our lives?

I think it all has to do with the relentless need of capitalism to expand continuously in order to survive. Every occasion for making a profit, or for deriving any measure of support for the system, gets hyped and enlarged. Boxing Day becomes Boxing Week. Daylight Saving has to be extended to lengthen the number of available hours for economic activity. Remembrance Day becomes the Remembrance Period and officially starts on the last Friday in October. The name-day of an obscure saint, Valentine, becomes a major wallet-draining event; Easter eggs go on sale the following day. Back to school sales begin in July. Hallowe'en sales start right after Labour Day. Xmas becomes a two-month marathon.

Why do we allow ourselves to be treated like this?

[ 30 November 2006: Message edited by: M. Spector ]