by Carol Nissenbaum

Created on: November 08, 2008

Maybe it's because I'm getting older, and am more aware of the passing of time, but it seems to me that the seasons in this country are becoming out of sync with the calendar.

Have you ever tried to buy a bathing suit in August? Good luck - better off if you're looking for wool sweaters or fur coats. A winter coat in January? Sure, maybe one left on a clearance rack, surrounded by all the cruisewear! The seasons are rushed beyond belief and it just seems to get worse with each passing year.

The end of June signifies the end of the school year where I live. No sooner does the 4th of July pass (which has been advertised in stores since Memorial Day ended) than we start to see Back-to-School sales! We are still in the early throes of 10 weeks off; who wants to be reminded about school? I'm not buying any supplies in July just on principle (not principal!)

Back to school sales continue until my kids are ready to go back to school in September. By the time we find out the supplies they need, there is about one (opened) package of pencils left in Target and a bent spiral notebook. Tumbleweeds roll down the aisles. I've tried jumping the gun and loading up on the 15-cent notebooks and 25-cent binders in July, and they are still collecting dust down in my basement. I just can't win.

The day after Labor Day, the Halloween blitz begins. The shelves are cleared of any errant school supplies you might need, say, on the first day of school, so that thousands of bags of fun-size candy can be displayed. Again, I've tried buying Halloween candy in September, only to find at the end of October that 'the bag must've sprung a leak,' and instead of 72 treats, I've got a bag full of wrappers! Now I got smart - I buy the candy just before Halloween, I buy something nobody is wild about (no chocolate!), and I hide the good stuff! Why do we need 8 weeks to shop for one or two bags of candy?

Traditionally, when I was growing up, after Halloween came my birthday, Election Day, and then Thanksgiving. Christmas was a long way off. Now, following Halloween, the Christmas season apparently begins! I literally saw workers at Target and Wal-Mart stocking the shelves with Christmas merchandise the day after Halloween! Is the Christmas season really 8 weeks long? I remember when, the day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as Black Friday, the Christmas sales would officially begin. Before you knew it it was December and it was just a few weeks away. Now, when it is a couple of months away, it seems

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