Tuesday, November 3, 2009

And now for the good news - Christmas might be ho-hum?

Why are economists thinking about Christmas already?

Good grief, I haven’t even thrown the Hallowe’en pumpkin into the compost heap or finished off my stash of pint-sized chocolate bars (you didn’t think I was going to hand out the full bowl to trick or treaters, did you?), and already there are reports that the holiday season might - economically - be a ho-hum affair.

And by the time December 25th rolls around, we’ll be smothered in such economic reports.

We’ll have heard about flat or stagnant incomes, a weak recovery, a longer recession, the need for more stimulus spending, falling consumer spending, pessimistic worries and the troubling price of eggs.


["Corn is still in the field - we're thinking Christmas?": photo GAH]

Once or twice you might even hear someone recommend you freely adopt a live small, spend less, save more money philosophy this year. And that instead of shopping you help free the spirit of Christmas from the grip of consumption by practicing the high notes of your favourite carol so you’ll be in tip top shape for Christmas Eve.

As many of you might guess, I’m more of a ‘sing about Christmas’ than ‘shop for Christmas’ type of guy, and as the ho-hum reports start piling up I’ll be practicing ‘We Three Kings.’

***

I guess it’s because I always thought ‘trim the tree’ meant make it smaller, not cover it with baubles.

To all economists I say - wait a while!

.

2 comments:

bobbie said...

Oh, please wait a while! Everyone is in such a hurry to get to tomorrow. Why not enjoy today?

G. Harrison said...

bobbie,

I'm with you. Our focus is often on the wrong things.

Keep smiling.

GAH