Christmas Already!

[Xequat]

So... while I can agree with the spirit of that law, I disagree with the practice of it, having been a victim of overzealous enforcement.

Yeah...you'll have that. I'd be afraid that the little stores that sell Christmas stuff all year long would be forced to shut down down because the law didn't work them in. In Lexington, KY (I think it was earlier this year), they outlawed smoking in public places. Sounds fine to some, except that that included a pretty successful cigar bar in the city proper. It had to close down.

On the other hand, I posted something back in late September about my wife seeing Christmas stuff out already. September?!?!?!?!? I mean, come on. Halloween was still over a month away. Three months ahead of time is a little insane. If you really want Christmas stuff that early, there's ebay. And you can buy Christmas presents all year long if you want to get ahead, so maybe.

 

[OUMoose]

I am so sick of seeing christmas/winter decorations the day after halloween, and even before halloween, when its still warm outside! don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, and I love looking at the decorations, but when they go up at halloween, it's a bit rediculous, and the novelty's worn off way before the christmas season. It's weird looking at christmas trees with fake snow when we should be seeing pumpkins and turkeys. This is just getting stupid. I'm hearing friends and family members and neighbors complain. Even my roommate's kid sister was moaning "christmas already! it's not even thanksgiving!"

A friend made an offhand comment about wishing there was a law against it. I got to thinking...why not? If it's something the public wants, the lawmakers should deliver.

So... I was thinking maybe a petition to deliver to the city council asking them to pass an ordinance banning winter holiday decorations until the day after thanksgiving. I was curious as to how many people would sign something like that. I've been hearing a lot of complaining about the decorations, but I'm not sure how many people would be willing to sign a petition to do something about it.

so...

Would you support an ordinance prohibiting winter holiday decorations in retail establishments until the day after thanksgiving?

Perhaps I can offer a counter-proposal. Instead of creating another ordinance that only clutters dusty lawbooks and I'm sure would generate silly amounts of litigation, why don't you hit them where it will REALLY hurt...

Don't shop there.

If you don't like it, don't go there. If enough people agree, the collective loss in revenue will either cause the store to close, or for them to rethink their strategies (perhaps causing surveys to go out which no one can ever be bothered to answer, but that's another topic).

Also, if you were to proceed with this, lets extrapolate it forward to some other examples:

- I work 8am to 5pm, and I live near some railroad tracks. Usually around 3-4am, a train goes through, sometimes waking me up, somtimes not. Since I live in an apartment complex, I'm going to sign a petition to either stop the trains from going through there, or to have the tracks moved...

- I was in a near fatal car crash with a red Buick Roadmaster. Everytime I see one of those vehicles now, it sends me into a panic attack. Therefore, since this is causing me physical distress, I am going to have a petition signed in my neighborhood to have an ordinance set that red Buick Roadmasters are not allowed on my street (passing through, nor parking).

These sound silly, but they are similar in intent to what you're suggesting and would fall under the same precident. I won't say your wrong, as it is your opinion and you have the right to propose anything to your government that you deem fit. My only hope is you think this through realistically and to all of it's logical conclusions.

just my 2cents...