I have been feeling particularly un-festive this holiday season...what? What holiday season, it's still only middle November? Yup, and that is exactly my problem, "the season" has broken it's banks and is flooding out all over the place. I normally really enjoy the holiday season, the snow, the increased commercial fervor, everybody making cookies and sneaking them to neighbors, etc. But the fact the "the season" has broken out of its season this year is really dragging me down. Wally World deployed their Christmas Toyland on October 4th this year, exactly 1 month earlier than last year, which even on November 4th was still 3 weeks earlier than the Christmas Holiday Season should really be allowed to begin. What's the big deal, you say? What's wrong with a whole extra 7 weeks of the Christmas Spirit? Well, nothing, if that was what we were getting. But we aren't. What we are getting is a whole extra 7 weeks of corporate commercialism crammed down our throats, without the warm cozy feelings that normally accompany "the season". So, here I am, trudging from store to store, buying crud for people who need no more crud, but may (or may not) feel slighted if I do not add to their pile of crud this year. I myself do not need any more crud. I have as yet been unable to supply even a single idea to my wife as to what additional crud I want from her and the children this year. Maybe in 3 weeks, when it really is Christmas season, and not just this phony, corporate synthesized season, I will be a little more open to the fervor of "the season".