Just hear those sleigh bells jinglin'...

It's cliche, but true... Christmas comes earlier every. year. This past week, that realization set in pretty hard as I received the biggest truck of stock to date since my store has been open for 11 months. I had been a bit nervous since we received our full assortment of boxed Christmas cards just in time for Labor Day weekend, but I had no idea what was about to hit.

Over the past few weeks of deliveries, we have been seeing the occasional shipment of wreaths, holiday-themed dishes, and ornaments. This week, Christmas officially arrived. There is at least 3500 square feet of space in my store devoted to what the company has deemed the "Florida Lifestyle Holiday Must-Haves". Think surfing Santas, flamingos with wreaths around their necks (see above), penguins in bathing suits, and the like. Then put all of these outrageously kitsch-y themes onto everything imaginable: t-shirts, dishes, towels, stocking, ornaments, figurines... the list goes on and on.

I have tried my best to get in to the spirit of the season early, at least for the sake of my staff, who all (with good reason) cannot for the life of them understand why anyone thinks we will sell this product 3 weeks before Halloween has even hit. As part of this effort, I even attempted an OTG Holiday list of my 10 favorites ("Kiss Me at Midnight" can get me pumped ANY time of the year), but 2 minutes into "Santa Can You Hear Me?", I still wasn't sold.

The one silver lining of the onslaught of Christmas product was Friday afternoon when I signed for a delivery of 545 pounds of holiday candy. Now, I loooooove my Moose Munch as much as the next girl, but I couldn't get excited about unpacking Lindt truffles and Ghiradelli peppermint bark before the candy corn had gone stale. It's just TOO early.

As this post goes to press, I'd like to extend a shout-out to all of my favorite athletes and their outstanding accomplishments today! The Colts have settled comfortably into a 31-0 lead over Baltimore, Peyton and Marvin have both gotten their groove back, and I have received 3 v. important text message alerts letting me know Em, Linds, and Casey have made it across the finish line in Chicago. So proud of the three of you and of the money you raised for Team Lungevity! Can't wait to read the post full of deets.