4 weeks before is plenty of time.  my husband and i hate going to the stores and seeing the stores enveloped in so much christmas stuff so early on.  One aisle maybe in the back of the store earlier on.  But not as soon as you walk in - I hate being bombarded by stuff.

Why can't we enjoy the holiday and our family and friends.  Why does it have to be so much about gifts and food and decorations?

The stores aren't trying to get us in the "holiday spirit"...the stores are looking for a bigger profit.  Everything is about the almighty dollar nowadays. What I found appalling was to hear "Merry Christmas from Y94fm on Halloween day....don't get me wrong, I like to hear Merry Christmas rather that Happy Holidays...but not before Thanksgiving!

I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO ENJOY ONE HOLIDAY AT A TIME THANK YOU. ARE WE IN THAT MUCH OF A HURRY THAT WE HAVE TO SKIP OVER THINGS TO GET TO WHERE? NEW YEARS. WE NEED TO SSSLLLOOOWWW DOWN IT IS NO WONDER WE DIE OF HEART ATTACKS OOHH WAIT WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THAT IT'S GO GO GO!!!!! AND YES I AM A CHRISTIAN SO FOR USA'S SAKE KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS THANKGIVING IS FOR JUST THAT GIVING THANKS THAT WE ARE FREE AND NOT LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES THAT SUPRESS PEOPLE. I HAVE A LOT TO BE THANKFUL FOR STOP AND THINK I AM SURE YOU HAVE THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR TOO.

 This is nothing new for the retail stores to have Christmas item up this early.  I have worked in retail for over 25 years and the stores have always started to display christmas item at the end of October forgetting Thanksgiving.  We have always gone from Halloween to Christmas just as we start to set up Valentine items after the Christmas leftover sell off  and back to school supplies the week that the kids are released from school and lets not forget Halloween item were set up just after Labor Day.  You would be surprised at how many customers start their holiday shopping in October due to they do not want to be in the stores during the holiday shopping rush. Just remember there are 33 day until Hanukkah, 52 days before Christmas and 54 days before Kwanzaa begins the holidays will be here before you know it . I once enjoyed the holidays but working in retail for as long as I have you get treated so badly by some customers that you start to dislike them in a big way, so with that said PLEASE when shopping this year try to give your cashier or sales clerk a smile to keep their spirts up.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE...... it will be over before you know it.

We just don't shop at malls or large stores during this time of year, we go to small, local shops that don't have decorations up or Christmas music droning in the background.  As soon as we heard the Christmas music on the radio (give me a break!) we reset all the stations.  We just aren't ready for Christmas yet - we want to enjoy the fall; apples, crunchy colorful leaves, cool breezes, pumpkins...what ever happened to Thanksgiving?  Our family has opted out of the Christmas marketing extravaganza.  We keep it simple.  We don't buy tons of crap for everyone on our 'list', we find something meaningful to give (or give to a charitable organization in someone's name) and appreciate our time together, enjoy each others company, keep it slow, calm and quiet.  So much more worthwhile than this crazy bizarre market-driven puppet show.

I agree that four weeks is plenty of time to get ready for Christmas. We hear little to nothing of Thanksgiving--It's Halloween and then we're hit with the sledge hammer "transition" to Christmas merchandise. Most stores have "softened" us up a bit, however. Several had full Christmas displays set up well before Halloween. Fortunately they were not playing Christmas music quite yet. I avoid all stores as much as possible until later in Fall. I get enough "buy this, buy that" propaganda on television, but thankfully with that medium I can quickly change the channel or transition to a DVD when the ever-present holiday ads make their appearance.

It's sad that the more relaxed atmosphere of the holidays is gone. Everyone is too "busy" to actually enjoy any of the real meanings for them and their families and friends. Not so many years ago, my family did not decorate for the holidays until after December 1st, and the tree did not go up until the 10th. Now, we get holiday-oriented mail and catalogs beginning around Labor Day. When the time for celebrating actually arrives, many are just too tired out to enjoy it or plain sick of seeing and hearing about it.

Unfortunately this is a season of capitalism; the fact it's masked in the facade of Santa, little children with glowing eyes fondly eyeing the latest toys, and so many folks wishing that the perfect Christmas card scene will come to life at their house makes little difference.

Consumers pay, merchants hope, and all is not right with the world.

I think that Christmas has lost the "true" meaning - when I was a child it seemed that the spiritual aspect was more prominent than the commercial aspect.  I am as guilty as the next person with the commercial aspect.  
I feel that Christmas and Christmas items should be put on hold until after Thanksgiving after all don't we all have something to be thankful for.  Lets take it one holiday at a time.  

the only way to stop retailers from putting up decorations two months or more before the holiday is for consumers to not buy the merchandise.  while your at it start demanding AMERICAN made again too.

Did anybody see a Christmas tree set up in church today?  How about a nativity scene?  If the churches, the actual reason for Christmas, can wait until December why can’t the moneygrubbers.

Boy, what a bunch of Scrooges you all are. Christmas in a democracy means we all have the choice to celebrate as we like. If shopping is your thing - go for it. If Faith is your reason for living - same thing. Enjoy the holidays as you like, live and let live and don't complain so much.

Just as a side note, Hannukah this year is December 4th. The Jewish faith follows a lunar calendar. For gifts for out of town friends or relatives who are Jewish,  waiting for the Thanksgiving sales would be too late.

Retail is retail holidays are holidays,and stores are free to sell whatever they want.  I personally don't believe the "This is what shoppers want" line we hear every year.  I think it's just what the stores would like us to believe.  My only objection to the Christmas hype is that by the time the real holiday rolls around, I'm already tired of the decorations and songs.

If I recall the story correctly, Scrooge did most of his shopping on Christms Day!

                HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

                       STAY SAFE.

Who cares.  It's the same thing every year.  Stores put holiday things out early and everyone complains.  Let's move on.  Enjoy your holidays however you want and forget about the stores.  Just because they're selling Christmas trees in October doesn't mean you have to buy one and put it up.

More so than not being able to understand the early start to the Christmas season, is not understanding the way that News Channel 9 choses to decorate for the holiday.
If you have driven by the studios for the past years, you can see that they epitomise the commercialism of the holiday by using Christmas as a way to advertise their station.
Displaying Christmas lights is a fun way to revere the holiday, I think, but to take advantage of that by putting your own cause in lights, is ridiculous and disprespectful.

Chrismas is just another  propaganda for retail stores to make more money or to catch up on there lost profits,and Thanks to the radio and media putting more pressure on people to buy this buy that its all hype to get people to spend more money and get buried in debt.