Sign of the times

So I was watching the Constance Bennett movies last night, and I noticed after the end of the first one, Lady With a Past, and just before Robert Osborne's outro, TCM ran a screen that said something like, "Gift giving is classic. Visit shop.tcm.com." Now, in the past TCM has run a screen pointing out when a DVD of the just-finished movie is available for purchase from the Warner Archive, but this was a different screen. (Besides, Lady With a Past doesn't seem to be on DVD.) This one had what looked like a snowflake background, which implies along with the message that it's designed for the Christmas gift-giving season.

To think that yesterday was exactly seven weeks before Christmas! Granted, when you're buying stuff mail order, it does take some time for the things to arrive. And it's probably not a bad idea to get as much of one's Christmas shopping out of the way early. (Either that, or do what my sister did last year and buy a bunch of gift cards just before boarding the airplane to come home for the holidays. I can't blame her, what with the TSA's regulations.) Still, I'm one of those people who's not ready for Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving. If Christmas advertising is here, I presume the annual parade of the dead can't be far behind.