Do Not Open Till … October?

by Sierra Donovan

My husband still tells the story of the year he bought me a coat for Christmas, and we tried to exchange it for a lighter color. No dice. Why? Because we waited until the first week in January. When we looked for the coats where my husband had found them, we found … swim suits. (And yes, we do live in the Northern Hemisphere, so it was most assuredly winter.)

I have long lamented the fact that stores are out of sync with real life the majority of the time. Just ask anyone who's ever tried to find a good pair of sandals in August. Because, of course, they missed the summer clearance sales that started right after the Fourth of July.

Already shoppers are writhing in pain as they see the Christmas merchandise starting to show up in stores. But not me. Not this year.

You see, I've been waiting for October all year. This is the month my first Christmas romance, No Christmas Like the Present, made its debut in stores. Add in the fact that I've been working since January on the next book in my contract – another Christmas novel – and I've had one foot in the holiday season all year long.

Okay, it's sick and wrong to see Christmas decorations show up across the aisle from the Halloween displays. But when it comes to holiday books, I can definitely see getting a jump on the season. By the time I'm in the heart of the Christmas frenzy, there just isn't much time for reading.

And while the stress of the holiday season is something many of us dread -- like Lindsay, the heroine of my book -- the joy of the season is something to be celebrated. Maybe getting a head start is a good way to head off some of that stress at the pass.

But I still think Christmas and Halloween should, at least, be on separate aisles.