Copious lists that start with the phrase “ there are only ___ days left” are proliferating these days. Those dates were set on the calendar together as days to be celebrated by the majority of Americans. More importantly, the holiday preparations for specific meals, well as the expansion of the number, expense and kind of gifts to be given were affected. The school calendar began to include earlier dates or expanded later dates to insure that the holiday and seasonal breaks around Christmas, or Winter and Spring breaks included the Friday ahead and often the following Monday to give families more time to travel.
The calendar dates that were celebrated in less commercial ways originally, such as Halloween or Washington or Lincoln’s birthdays were easy to change on the calendar to fit this expansion. Supply chain issues wreaked havoc to guarantee that businesses could provide the most popular products, decorations and products on everyone’s wish list. Whether it be the highly anticipated holidays or even the small, personal celebrations such as birthdays, wedding or anniversary parties and baby showers, one can be sure to find all sorts of products to meet one’s needs.
The number of days until school starts has been promoted heavily recently. The advertising onslaught for purchasing school supplies starts not long after the barbecues and fireworks are over. It wouldn’t be as annoying, if the Christmas decorations were not already crowding out the school supplies, pumpkins, costumes and candy for trick-or-treating. The pre- holiday promotions are now occurring way ahead of time. Social media has accelerated this trend. The number of Jack-O-Lanterns and costumes in the front of the store are accumulating fast. How many days left until ___? is now the question on all our minds at least once a day. It is a celebratory number jumble for sure.
By Dolly Viscardi
