Boys, oh boys. Hey, I like Christmas as much as the next guy, but this is a little much. No sooner did I clean up the squashed bits of Halloween pumpkins from my porch than the crowd next store started to string up the Christmas lights and K-Mart started running those annoying commercials with that O'Donnell woman dressed as an elf. I can't imagine the look on old Saint Nick's face.

This is how we show Christmas spirit? November first we shoot the starting gun for the mothers in one country to another to grab a shopping cart and all the Pokemon crap they can untill their accounts are sucked dry and still owe money to the Royal Bank for all those cheques they wrote? Not only is the spirit of Christmas dead, but it's spinning in its grave.

And the poor poor parents always buy into those fleeting shortlived fads like Ninja Turtles, Furbies, He-Man, and next on the block: Pokemon. Remember Tickle-Me-Elmo? ME NEITHER! That thing went out faster than old what's his name... you know who I mean... uh... "Mumbly Joe", er... Leonardo DeCaprio, that's it ! But they always give in. After hours of whining, It always comes down to "Yes, yes, yes boy, yes, I'll get you the damn Pikachu!!"

Now I can feel the sickness coming on. I'll just have to sit around and wait in fear of that fastly coming day when my dad drags the whole family out into the van so we can drive around and stare at all the lights in the neighborhood.

So this year I'm ignoring all the hype, and except for the tree and junk, Christmas'll be just another day. Wake me Boxing Day when the Easter sales start.