It seems to come earlier every year. No matter what the times are like, it comes creeping up like a ghost in the night and then WHAM! Staring you in the face are all the ads for the Christmas shopping season.

That's right. It is not even Thanksgiving yet and the Christmas shopping season has been in full swing. No wonder it seems like the holidays come sooner every year - in a sense they do.

This year in particular, the stores are trying to entice buying sooner to try and make those yearly figures that were set back in what seems like an eternity. Since then, we have seen a lot of ups and downs in the economy and now it is a scramble to the finish.

This two-edged sword though can work against the retailer as shoppers will be expecting larger discounts as the holiday gets closer. It can also come back and bite the late shopper if the stores try to hold out.

Whatever happened to the good old days when we allowed one holiday before starting the next. Now, it seems as though Halloween and Thanksgiving get lost in the bunch because Christmas is starting earlier. In some places, there are sales in July.

Then we sit back and wonder where did the time go. The time really hasn't changed, but our habits and promotions of the holidays have. It will get to a point - if we let it - where Christmas may be promoted before the Fourth of July.

Maybe it is time we all take a break, and let the holidays play out the way they were meant to be. Maybe it is time we stop to smell the proverbial roses. Then again, if we do it now, we may be run off by the fanatical shopper who is trying to get that Christmas deal of the century.

Oh well, who is ready to go shopping now?