When will the "buying season" start next year?

While celebrating thanksgiving with friends and neighbors - we laughed at the ads which had arrived that morning in and with our local newspaper. Many stores were opening at 4 AM on Friday and a few at midnight. None of us could think of a single item we needed enough to go out and stand in a line to get into a store in the middle of the night!

The evening news started with footage of people camping in tents to be first in line. I figured if that was the most important local news of the day - I'd rather not watch - and so I turned off the TV.

With the greedy corporate money grabbers after everyone, I wonder how far back the buying season will go? We already have the "holiday" paraphernalia out in late August but I fear the corporate buy-buy-buy season will also get re-set to pre-Labor Day - or earlier. Why not? This year some buyers were cautious as the price of gas and home heating went high and so spent less money after Thanksgiving - which itself cost more this year. So if the pre-xmas sales start while it's still warm out and before we have to pay to heat our homes - maybe we'll spend our way into bankruptcy months earlier.

And those who get on the stupidity train of the "war on xmas" can spend more months arguing that point! Ah - life in the USA! And all during this many "pine" nostalgically for the good old days - yet forget that in those good old days - people actually spend time with family and friends - not in tents on lines waiting for stores to open!