It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas.....

Everywhere you go....... 

Or so the song says and if you live in Canada, it has for a while. 

I can remember, not so fondly,  putting up my store's Christmas promotion dressed in my Halloween costume and I was never surprised to see Costco bringing Christmas items out in September. Christmases in North America are over commercialized and in your face from Nov 1st onwards. While I am sure there are a few people who love it, for most of us, myself included, it gets to be a bit much. Working in the retail industry made it that much worse. Looking at Christmas displays was one thing, but the ever present carols repeated in endless loops as the background to your working day, were on an entirely different level.  By the time the holiday actually arrived I felt that if I heard Little Drummer Boy one more time I would find that drum stick and shove it up Santa's you know what. Obviously other people feel the same way too since I read a week or so ago, that Shoppers Drug Mart has agreed to not start playing their Christmas music so early. Add to that the exhaustion of dealing with the crowds, long hours and the inevitable customer service issues, it was hard to enjoy the holiday. 

I find in Hong Kong Christmas is much saner. Christmas is a public holiday, but the majority of the population are not christians nor do they celebrate Christmas. As a result Christmas is not so obvious. Starting in November the stores slowly bring out Christmas merchandise, but I can not recall seeing a Christmas commercial on TV nor are there carols playing on the radio. Stores don't go all out with crazy Christmas sales promotions and my mailbox is not weighted down with 10lbs of paper that is all flyers, mixed with the inevitable bills. In fact today was the first day that I really realized we are in the Christmas season. While in the washroom of all places, at Elements mall in Kowloon, I noticed that the music ever so softly playing was Christmas music. When I walked out I listend carefully and sure enough, the carols were playing in mall itself. I then noticed the decorations and soon stumbled on to the big Christmas display. 

I am not sure what the Alice in Wonderland type tree and mushrooms have to do with Christmas and they obviously won't be doing Santa Photos (another nightmare from Christmases past), but given that I am a minority here, I appreciate what is out there and enjoy it all the more.