Countdown
Thanksgiving is over. Now the countdown to Christmas can begin! Yes, I know that the stores all began their countdowns weeks ago. The holiday merchandise has been out since Halloween (or even earlier) and the stores have been playing Christmas carols for just as long. (It's a little ironic that so many retail chains insist that their customers be greeted with "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas," but that traditional Christmas carols, both secular and Christian, are the predominant background music this time of year.) As far as the retailers are concerned, Black Friday was bigger than Christmas itself, effectively kicking off a whole frenzied season of buying and selling. We've had Christmas parades already, too, on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Santa Claus has officially arrived to greet excited children who are ready to recite laundry lists of longed-for Christmas presents. The neighbors have put up their outside light...