Tis the season to be jolly

Already, during the past week, I have been hearing Christmas music in the commercials on television, and little notices in the newspaper about 'X Shopping Days Until Christmas" and it really is a pity. I used to complain when they started right after Thanksgiving rather than waiting until sometime early in Decmber. Now, they do not even wait for Thanksgiving. In this past week I saw city workers beginning to hang the Christmas lights on the street poles downtown and next Friday night (day after Thanksgiving) will be the annual Christmas parade in downtown Independence. As in the past, for many years, our church (Church of the Epiphany, Espiscopal) will have a float in the annual parade. I suppose it will be the same crummy hayride as in the past, and I would guess our choir will sing Christmas carols on the float. I suppose I will probably go along to ride on the float.

Did you ever notice that not only is the Christmas season a busy time of year for suicides, but it is also the biggest time of the year for scams and frauds. Years ago, when I worked for the Amoco/Diners Club credit card center in Chicago, in the Sales Authorization Unit, we were always warned to take exceptional 'interest' in the sob-stories we would hear from customers on Christmas Eve, and told to take precautions against fraud on Christmas Eve as well, and we would always get hit with a lot of it all that week.