Christmastime is here? Already?!

As a kid, I recall waiting anxiously for the Sears catalog to arrive in the mail.  When it finally arrived, I would grab it — along with a few sheets of paper — flip toward the back where the toy section was, and then go page-by-page writing down the toys I wanted on my list to Santa Claus.

If I remember right, that was sometime just before Thanksgiving.  My list wouldn’t be completed until sometime after Thanksgiving, however.  It, of course, had to go through revisions.

Also excitement surrounded Thanksgiving morning.  I would wake up in time to be in front of the TV for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (which was carried live in those days) … and to catch the first Christmas commercials that signaled the beginning of the season.

Unfortunately, those days are gone.  Now, stores begin to set up their Christmas displays and prepare for the added gift inventory … sometimes before Halloween has arrived!  Radio station, WLIT 93.9FM, began playing Christmas music 24/7 on November 1st.

The Courier-News reported that Spring Hill Mall will hold Radio Disney’s Santa Jam … this weekend!

The Santa Jam with Radio Disney will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the West Dundee mall’s center court.

Santa will arrive at Woodfield Mall on Thursday, November 15:

WELCOME SANTA TO WOODFIELD ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15 AT 11:30AM!
Bring your children to Macy’s Court next Thursday, November 15th at  11:30 a.m. to participate in Santa’s Arrival Parade.

Retailers have continued to extend the Christmas season — unofficially labeled “Christmas Creep” — in hopes of being able to help their bottom line, especially due to consumers already feeling pinched by credit card debt, mortgage woes, and increases in fuel and food prices.

But, I will admit that I am planning to have at least 99% of my shopping done before Thanksgiving, so that I can slow down and truly enjoy the Christmas season; listening to Christmas music, putting up decorations, listening to Christmas music, and meeting with friends and family…

For me, though, the Christmas season still doesn’t really arrive until Santa guides his sleigh and reindeer down the street at the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Enough

Over the past several days, I’ve been trying to find out more about what really went on “behind-the-scenes” of Autumn Fest.

But, despite having received a good deal of information, I began to wonder something … if more time was taken to get to the bottom of this, what should the consequences be?

I mean, how serious is this, really, in the context of everything going on in the Village?

So what that the Trustees didn’t get official invites in their packets?! Perhaps in the future there should be no expectation to either send or receive written invites to such events. After all, the Board was made aware of the event, given specific details about the event, and it was a Village coordinated event. Hopefully eliminating written invites in the future, we can make sure that no one’s feelings get hurt if there is misunderstandings or miscues that occur.

And, is it really a big deal that Trustees Sigwalt and Teeter participated in the parade, but didn’t pay the $10 participant fee?

Community pride and desire to be involved should have compelled everyone on the Board to participate appropriately. That some didn’t speaks more about their true feelings, but do any of these things require disciplinary action? Nope.

So what the heck is the Board doing wasting more time at meetings arguing about it?

The same goes for this talk of disciplinary action over private conversations. One should wonder what Trustee Sigwalt’s plan is to monitor all conversations — emails, phone calls, letters, or even conversations around the dinner table — of the Village President and the Trustees; or any of the Village staff for that matter? But, the idea is so preposterous that it shouldn’t be raised again.

Now, let’s start dealing with the real business of the Village!