Earlier and Earlier

While traveling through sunny, blue-sky Indiana today for meetings, we stopped for a bite to eat at a mall. This sight greeted us.

I guess the message is, Christmas is coming soon so you'd better get ready!

In truth, it IS only two months away so I guess the encouragement to be thinking about Christmas is apropos!

And to be fair, just before I left home, this sight greeted me at a local store.

I was so surprised and took a picture just to remember how early these items came out for sale!

And this was even a few weeks earlier than the tree going up at the mall in the US!

Does anyone else remember Christmas decorations going up after Thanksgiving, in late November??

The one good thing about it for me is that I'm actually motivated to get Christmas shopping done early this year so that I can enjoy the reason for the season: Jesus, Immanuel, God with us!