211020 Sentinel, Alice in Walmart

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'Tis the Season?

The Race is on.

I don't haunt the retail stores in Springfield any more and haven't for years now. I used to take Joyce to the Ross stores in Springfield because she enjoyed them and we did acquire some good merchandise there, but now I have no reason to go there anymore. I am just a WalMart in store shopper or an online shopper. Those two means take care of my needs.

In late August I noticed that there were a collection of those huge shipping containers building up. As of yesterday there are 14 of them across the back and west side of our super center here. With all the merchandise already in the store and the 14 containers outside, they must be expecting a big Christmas season. I noted yesterday that the garden center is being transformed into the Christmas decorations center already.

We are just past the time when the store was selling fall mums in pots and now it seems the store is in a headlong rush past Halloween, Thanksgiving and hurtling full throttle toward the big prize, the Christmas shopping season. WalMart is in the business of selling and they do it well so I have no complaint as they are doing what they are intended to do.

There is something that I do wonder about. I see parents in there with children and every time they are in the store they are buying some toy for the child, all year long. I think back to when I was a child and I received a gift for my birthday and on Christmas perhaps 2 or 3 but that was it for the entire year. My question is, if a person gives a child a gift every trip to the store, what's left to buy come Christmas? Things are the way they are and who am I to say it's all wrong? I just wonder about how that works out. Is it any wonder why people have their credit cards maxed out? Is this credit card debt and the lingering thought they may lose their job a big part of their stress levels? Is this where Alice goes through the looking glass?