Its beginning to look a lot like christmas ...

Is it me or is Christmas getting closer each year. It seems like just when Easter is over the shops bring out the Christmas cheer. I don't know, but this seems to take all the joy out of the holiday for adults and confuse the kids. When I was younger, getting something Christmassy was a treat for December, now you have Christmas in July and its just not the same. Maybe I feel the passing of time more quickly as I work in a library and we tend to look two weeks ahead to when the books are due back. Don't get me wrong I love Christmas, the whole idea of thinking about your loved ones and how much they mean to you, and honouring them with well thought out and meaningful gifts is a great one, but too early is still too early. The anticipation is ruined, I think, which impacts on the magical quality of Christmas, or maybe I'm just cynical.