Back in 2015, I was covering a Veterans Day event in Fort Worth. During an interview, someone took the time to come up, loop an American flag through my belt and take a picture.

Like a modern day Walter Cronkite, I kept my composure and completed the interview. But I thought of this episode after a stop at the grocery store this week.

Down the street that day, on November 11, a store in the Fort Worth Stockyards was already decked out for Christmas.

“Too soon with the tinsel,” I thought to myself, apparently choosing my disdain for premature decoration to finally realize the true meaning of Christmas.

But holiday creep [patent pending] is advancing on other holidays, too. Last year, I expressed dismay to see Halloween candy out in September.

I understand the importance of doing your Halloween candy shopping ahead of time. I’ve waited until October 31st before and wound up handing out Smarties and Bit-O-Honey, which still exists. I suspect the only reason I wasn’t attacked is because Those Kids Today threw all the eggs at a house down the street handing out pencils.

But this week [in August. August!], I was at the store and observed they had proudly set out Halloween decorations and were selling toy pumpkins [long before the peak of the actual pumpkin harvest when kids carve them and then learn they don’t actually enjoy the taste of pumpkin].

Labor Day has been completely shut out.

We live in a world where we must respect law and order. Maybe after seeing the lawlessness of Easter egg dyeing kits on store shelves at Thanksgiving, Portland decided to start funding the police again.

Or maybe there’s some middle ground. Maybe leading up to the presidential election, stores have recognized a point made by Thomas Jefferson who’d been inspired by writers of the Enlightenment:

“During this period of strife and disagreement, what our nation needs most is a collective sugar rush,” he said, I’m sure. “Come by Monticello this October for some stale Halloween candy I bought when it was still summer!”