Wednesday, October 18, 2000
Wednesday, October 18, 2000 |
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Deck the halls with spooky costumes By
PAT NEWMAN Okay, take a seat. This news is going to shock you. There are only 67 days until Christmas. I know, the weather is like Miami Beach and you're still piecing together a costume to fulfill your child's Halloween fantasy, but Santa's reindeer are riding on the coattails of the Wicked Witch of the West. Forget that you haven't loaded up on miniature Snicker bars, Reese's cups and Milky Ways yet, to eat and hand out to trick or treaters, you must think ahead your local retailers have. Artificial pine boughs sporting red ribbons have been spotted at the Fayette Pavilion Belk store along with those heaps of costume jewelry sets in gold embossed boxes. SteinMart has its share of Christmas tree pins, earrings and velvety party clothes and every store on the planet is stocked with scooters, this year's answer to in-line skates. Craft stores have had ornaments and decorations available since the Fourth of July. I admit, I did make a sneak purchase of those hard-to-find bubble lights when I went back-to-school shopping with the kids, but I drew the line at buying color-coordinated garlands. The blur of pre-holiday shopping has me in a state of total confusion. Should I buy a frozen turkey at the same time I pick up my Halloween Snickers? Or do I live on the edge and wait until the weekend before Thanksgiving before searching for the perfect Butterball? My son has already alerted me that the new Matt Hoffman pro-skater video game for Nintendo 64 will be snapped up the minute it hits the store shelves. Release date sometime in November. Of course this is the only thing he really wants for Christmas. I should have been alert to the fact that the holidays were just another maxed-out credit card away when I had to pry my mail out of the box, which was crammed full of gift catalogs. Neiman Marcus' big gift for the year 2000 is a private submarine. If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. I tore the ad out and magnetized it to the refrigerator. Hint, hint. So there you have it Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Be scared, be thankful and rejoice, the Lord has come! And remember, Valentine's Day is just a SweeTart away. |
