It's what, mid-October? Already (and for the past two weeks I think) there are Christmas items for sale at stores, and Christmas jingles playing on the radio down here. October, November, December. That's 3 months out of the year. 3/12 -- One QUARTER of the entire year is devoted to Christmas-related marketing. And the countdowns. They do countdowns. First, the number of days until December “the nicest month of the year”. Then the countdown to Christmas itself. What drives this lunacy? Seems like something that goes on for a quarter of the year would loose its feeling of specialness.