The morning of November 1, I was on a mission to rid my house of anything Halloween related. First and foremost let's not forget the Pugly pumpkin I carved the week before. It was hard to appreciate the first day let alone a week later. Between all the decorations, a less than visually appealing carved pumpkin, kids costumes and candy wrappers all over the place my house was a disaster zone. Apparently the Zombie apocalypse had hit the night of October 31 and no one had warned me. Good news to all who have been busy worrying and preparing for it. I slept through it all and only woke up to a messy house with a bunch of decorations to be stored away and a whole lot of candy wrappers all over the floor.
My husband headed to hockey with the boys which left me to handle the "approach with caution area", that we call our home. I love Halloween but I love putting the decorations away even more. I felt a real sense of accomplishment gathering all the decorations, placing them back in their respective tupperware containers and setting them by the stairs to be stored away. (The containers are still waiting at the top of the stairs to be put in the basement storage area). I know what he's thinking Why doesn't she put those containers away? And I, on the other hand am thinkingI packed all the decorations away, why the heck doesn't he at least take them downstairs?
We seem to be at crossroads and unless he reads my column, it is unlikely that those containers will move anytime soon. With that said, I head to the local store for some retail therapyand at my age that is grocery shopping. Any fruit or vegetable will do, so my children will consume more than pixie sticks and boxes of nerds candy in the next two weeks. What I do notice is this. Halloween candy is 75% off and full priced Christmas candies are being stocked to the shelves. Much of the candy is exactly the same despite the packaging. (That's a whole other column).
There is not one shelf for anything Remembrance Day related. It stirs up the controversial issue that Dragon's Den tycoon, Brett Wilson has hit social media about. Brett has created a media storm about retailers being more respectful towards the veterans of our country and keeping Christmas off the shelves until November 12. I have to agree. Less is usually more, but not when used in regards to what the veterans sacrificed for our freedom. Perhaps we need a little more focus on what the veterans sacrificed for us.
The retailers though, are doing business in the manner in which they need to, in order to survive. Sell retail products. I truly believe that the majority of retail stores do not mean to disrespect our veterans by stocking their shelves with the latest version of elf on the shelf. It is simply how it has been and will continue to be until consumers demand otherwise. Perhaps the stores would stock their shelves with Rememberance day items if there was a consumer demand for such things.
Which brings about the question, why isn't there? Certainly all the blame can't be put on the retailers for putting up Christmas stock, when that is all they have. The retail stores simply respond to what the customer market demands are and until we shop differently, they won't stock differently. I adopt the idea that 'less is more' except regarding the honouring of our war veterans. I am not suggesting commercializing Remembrance Day by any means, but it does seem that there is a lack of personal responsibility on each and every one of our shoulders doing more to celebrate the freedom the veterans fought to achieve more. Perhaps we could each do our part to contribute more to the cause. Perhaps, a start is not buying what's on the shelves for 11 days.
