Autumn is my favorite season. It definitely has a good string of holidays. We have Columbus Day, Halloween, Veteran's day and the grand daddy of all Fall holidays, Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is so good, they give you 2 days off to celebrate. It's a shame, though, it's as if society wants us to totally skip the fall holidays and festivities. It feels as if we've been getting ready for Christmas since before Halloween.
Fall in New Cumberland, like all of Pennsylvania, is beautiful and peaceful time. The colors paint the trees, the air is crisp, and the jackets come out of the closets. We put away our summer toys, rake the leaves and carve pumpkins. The children are in full school mode, making their way to school each morning and trudging home in the afternoon. Fall sports are winding down and scouts are in full swing again. The leaves gently glide from their perches and we guide them into piles to be vacuumed by the borough's leaf trucks. These are some of the many signs of fall we love and have all become used to. It seems though that next season encroaches upon us earlier and earlier every year.
This brings me to my next thought. It would be nice if businesses, both big and small, would hold off a little on pushing the Christmas shopping season down our throats. Let us get through Thanksgiving first before we start with the Christmas sales and Holiday Open Houses. It's bad enough when I go to the mall and Santa is there with his castle, photographer and all the trimmings. The holiday advertisements in the newspaper are already overflowing and the commercials on television have us in the thick of the season. Heck, even here in small town New Cumberland, we are being pushed forcibly into the Christmas season. This past Saturday on November 12, barely a day past Veteran's day the town's business group, New Cumberland Olde Towne Association, held their annual "Holiday Open House" complete with many activities including Breakfast and photos with Santa, holiday coloring contest, holiday craft fair as well as many other activities. I'm sure Santa is busy this time of year, but do we have to host him so early? Couldn't New Cumberland get him for breakfast and photos any later than November 12th? Don't get me wrong, it's a great event, and I'm glad we have businesses that care enough to throw something like this together, but can we hold off on the Christmas stuff a little?
How about a Fall festival or moving the "Holiday Open House" closer to when the actual holidays take place? I realize these local businesses need to compete with the big retailers who are already in full "Holiday" shopping mode, but this is small town America. A better day might be "Small Business Saturday" on November 26. This is a national event that celebrates small business. This would be a perfect day to celebrate all the wonderful small businesses of our town. It's theme gets across the exact thing that the "Holiday Open House" is attempting to do, but takes place during the official kick off weekend of the Christmas shopping season. Next year, let's begin the Christmas shopping season closer to when it actually takes place right here in small town America.
Let's push back the Christmas and "Holiday" season to where it belongs; December, or at the very least after Thanksgiving.
What do you think? When are you comfortable seeing stores advertise and promote Christmas and the holiday season?
http://www.newcumberlandpa.com
http://smallbusinesssaturday.com
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