Around the 12th of December, Jasper in northern Virginia needed some lights to finish decorating his Christmas tree. He drove to store after store in search of a simple string of indoor lights, but could find none. I suppose that’s what happens when stores start putting Christmas decorations out long before Halloween.

He writes:

I bought a bigger X-mas tree this year than last year, so I needed
more lights. No problem, I thought, stores will be stocked up
maximally. X-mas creep has been worse than ever, so I went to Target.
Sorry, only outdoor lighting left – on 30% sale. Onto Lowe’s. Nothing
left. Home Depot. Only tacky outdoor stuff. Tried another home depot
later in the day. Nothing either. What was left was 30% off. Home
Depot guy told me he’d been sending folks over to the adjacent Giant
supermarket for weeks. He also had heard that they were out by
now.

This is insane. Not only does X-mas creep move the start of sales
forward. Apparently, it also moves the end of sales forward! In a
couple of years we’ll be buying X-mas stuff in Summer. Does anyone
feel like some Easter eggs yet?

All stores visited were in Woodbridge and Chantilly, VA.

Oh, we’re sure there’s a store somewhere getting its Easter candy ready for the shelves right now.

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