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One holiday at a time please

Halloween events across the Upstate were postponed from Friday night until Tuesday due to the rainy weather — and all I could do was laugh.

Seriously?

You’re postponing “Halloween events” to Oct. 31, also known as … wait for it … Halloween.

Kudos.

Am I the only one who finds this incredibly stupid? Not the rescheduling part — no one wants to Trick-or-Treat in the rain — but just the fact the events weren’t being held on the 31st to begin with.

Is it more convenient to have holiday celebrations on days that the majority of people don’t generally have to get up and go to work or school the next day? Sure. But that’s not how this works.

Halloween isn’t “the last Friday in October,” it’s very specific: October 31. And if Oct. 31 happens to fall on a Tuesday, or a Wednesday — or any other week day — so be it. Why? Because that’s when it’s Halloween.

Hold your “Fall festivals” on whatever day you want but if you’re specifically celebrating “All Hallows Eve,” then get the date right.

Moving on …

“Calendar-y” speaking, the next holiday we have to look forward to is Thanksgiving, but judging by retail store displays, you’d never know it.

As far as they’re concerned, Summer is over and there’s only one holiday left that matters: Christmas.

It’s like the entire month of November gets skipped over as corporate bean-counters greedily eye the promise of increased sales to provide relief against the impending fiscal year’s horizon.

The desire to cash in on that holiday tradition of turning financial books from red to black forces retailers to stock their shelves earlier and earlier in a misguided attempt to snag consumers before their competitors.

In reality? I just want to enjoy the holiday at hand.

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. I love the food, the football, the coming together and the ensuing turkey-coma naps. Let’s face it, Thanksgiving rocks.

That being said, I get why it’s not a huge deal for stores.

You don’t give gifts on Thanksgiving, you eat. This isn’t exactly Best Buy’s forte — it’s Krogers’. Hence the premature rush into the gift-buying season.

Even Black Friday sales are being backed up more and more into time traditionally reserved for family drama and copious amounts of boxed wine. Or, perhaps that’s just my house … fair enough.

Any way you look at it, it’s become the American norm to either prepare for and/or celebrate holidays way before their time.

So, in closing, I leave you all with the hopes and wishes for a very happy Fourth of July.

What? You didn’t hear? Yes, we’re celebrating that now in November.

Plan accordingly.

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Strickly Speaking

Kasie Strickland

Kasie Strickland is a staff writer for The Sentinel-Progress and can be reached at kstrickland@championcarolinas.com. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not necessarily represent the newspaper’s opinion.

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