Editor’s Note: Hope Mongers

Unfortunately, it’s nothing new. In a few years, we’ll be seeing Christmas tree skirts stocked alongside swimsuit cover-ups in June. Oh, wait … you can’t buy swimsuits in June. By then, the fall clothes are out. Swimsuits you get in February. It’s chaos, really.

But the rush to Christmas seems even more out of joint this year because the economy is so bad. People are losing their homes left and right, having to choose between food and medicine, and still reeling from sky-high gas prices — yet marketing America insists that we start thinking about a severely bastardized and over-the-top holiday that’s two months away. Makes no sense.