ONLY 257 DAYS

I got hell once from a parent who was pissed that the school allowed kindergarten kids to participate in an Easter egg roll at a local park. "Easter is not to be celebrated with an egg roll and the Easter Bunny", she screamed in my face.

Being that she was Jewish I chalked it up to secular differences and continued the practice of sending our five year olds every year to roll eggs with kids from other schools.

My parents owned a supermarket. I worked for them during high school and after military service. Back then holidays were a time for families to be together. Everything and I mean everything was closed. We were one of two markets in a city of well over 50,000 that opened for a few hours on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Easter. People would always forget something and were thankful that we had taken time our from our family activities to be open. Basically, it was dad, me and my brother who opened at 10 a.m. and closed the store at 2:00 p.m. every one of those holidays.

Today it amazes me at the number of retail stores that open during every one of these holidays when there was a time when an open store on a holiday was almost sacrilegious. I mean like now everything is open as if there's nothing to celebrate and as if no one has a family to celebrate the holidays with. Why does everything boil down to making a buck when a buck can be made? Amazing.

And to top this off, what about retailers who jump the gun on holidays? In July there are shopping centers and stores decorated for Christmas. In July!! Have we gone completely nuts?

I thought I'd shop today at the local market and buy the turkey for Easter dinner (hold the ham, please) that I should have bought yesterday. Typical Bob stunt. Why do today when you can put it off until tomorrow?

It would not surprise me if something like this was posted and plastered all over one or more of our department stores:

SHOP NOW!!! ONLY 257 SHOPPING DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Sheesh.......

Enjoy the day . . . WITH YOUR FAMILY!

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