Cookies I Don’t Understand

Cidu Bill on Nov 15th 2009

I don’t see anything wrong with Christmas decorations going on sale in September or October — if I put up Christmas decorations, I’m sure I’d buy them that early (and then not get around to putting them up unti late on December 24) — but what’s with bakeries selling Christmas cookies and cupcakes the first in November? These are fresh items which will be inedible within a week. Does anybody buy them?

Filed in Bill Bickel, Christmas, baked goods, cookies | 31 responses so far

31 Responses to “Cookies I Don’t Understand”

  1. PaulG Nov 15th 2009 at 03:35 pm 1

    I think they just rotate the holiday cookies display as the seasons change. I don’t think many people wait until Christmas to eat their Christmas cookies. I know that I bought a whole bunch of candy canes (the flavored kinds, not the mint kinds) and I’m already eating them.

  2. furrykef Nov 15th 2009 at 04:46 pm 2

    *shrug* I’d buy them if I thought I’d like ‘em. Why not?

  3. Cidu Bill Nov 15th 2009 at 04:53 pm 3

    I just figured that almost two months before Christmas, not enough people would be buying Christmas cookies to warrant batches of a fairly perishable item.

  4. Keera Nov 15th 2009 at 05:02 pm 4

    Yes, people buy them and eat them now. No, I don’t know why, either.

  5. Sari Everna Nov 15th 2009 at 05:08 pm 5

    The rules of Christmas in our house; Nothing until December first. I firmly believe this is how it should be everywhere(with the exception of musicians who need to practice their music ahead of time) but I haven’t managed to make the world concede to my demands, yet.

    Of course, I can kind of look at this two ways; it’s far too early for Christmas-themed perishables, but also they’re just cookies, so if they look tasty, they won’t be lasting until Christmas anyway. I mean, I won’t be buying them, ’cause regular cookies are always cheaper, but I’m sure someone will.

  6. Tocsnai Nov 15th 2009 at 05:18 pm 6

    If the local supermarket can figure out to produce large batches of football-themed goodies only during the couple of days before each NFL game — including logos for the two involved teams — I feel certain they aren’t locked into some sort of logistical situation that forces them into the early Christmas items.

    The simple rule is: Do Not Skip Ahead. The next significant holiday is the only one stores should stock a bunch of useless plastic for. Obviously there’s a market for these products, but
    It
    is
    Ethically
    Problematic.

  7. Cidu Bill Nov 15th 2009 at 05:20 pm 7

    Maybe it’s because I’m a New Yorker, but I always thought the “Christmas season begins after Thanksgiving” rule was perfectly illustrated by Santa on the final float of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade: It’s like the official “Gentlemen, start your sleighbells!”

  8. mkilby Nov 15th 2009 at 05:29 pm 8

    Christmas “Stollen” (a type of cake) starts showing up in Germany in late October or November. I personally would never buy (or eat) any of it until late December, but the problem is that if you wait that long to buy it, there may be none left in the stores. It’s relatively imperishable, so buying early isn’t that bad, but I still don’t feel comfortable having ANY Christmas goodies in the house until the 1st Sunday of Advent.

  9. Brent Nov 15th 2009 at 05:49 pm 9

    If the cookies are the spiced molasses cookies that only come out around Christmas here, then I’m all for bringing them out several months earlier. Because, really, there’s nothing particularly Christmassy about them (they aren’t decorated).

    And look at it this way, those that celebrate Sinterklaas day open their presents on December 5/6 instead of December 24/25.

  10. Elyrest Nov 15th 2009 at 06:16 pm 10

    There was a Bizarro comic recently that epitomized how I feel. Pilgrims and an Indian with a blunderbuss pointed at Santa.

    http://www.sfgate.com/comics/?feature_date=2009-11-12&feature_id=Bizarro

    I like Thanksgiving and the feeling of autumn and I don’t want people scurrying me ahead to Christmas. I’m with Cidu Bill in that the Thanksgiving parade starts the season for me. When I was a kid WBEN out of Buffalo, NY started the Christmas season with Santa’s Workshop and Forgetful the Elf on Thanksgiving Day. Our local radio station would start playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving. I had a whole month to get in the spirit. Now I am almost sick of Christmas even before December arrives. The Family Channel used to have the countdown to Christmas. Now they have the countdown to the countdown.

    I’m turning into a curmudgeon. I do like cookies though. :-D

  11. Cidu Bill Nov 15th 2009 at 06:46 pm 11

    Similarly, Elyrest, WPIX in New York City ushered in the Christmas season every Thanksgiving with a showing of March of the Wooden Soldiers (followed by King Kong; I never did get the significance of that)

  12. Duncman Nov 15th 2009 at 08:32 pm 12

    I would assume the cookies are being given to kids. Most kids I know could care less what shape their cookie is, or whether it’s in season.

  13. Elyrest Nov 15th 2009 at 08:40 pm 13

    Only kids get cookies?

    :-(

  14. Rob Nov 15th 2009 at 09:49 pm 14

    I’m one of those folks who thinks Christmas stuff should begin after Thanksgiving. From my more secular perspective, It seems silly to start getting into the whole Christmas spirit of gift-giving and then have a day where you say what you’re thankful for, and then go back to demonstrating that you’re not satisfied with the status quo. (Giving or expecting gifts.)

    Just a weird, seemingly contradictory attitude to me.

  15. Karen Nov 15th 2009 at 10:45 pm 15

    We don’t decorate for Christmas proper until the 25th of December. We celebrate St Nicholas Day on the 6th, of course, but our Christmas celebration is from December 25th til January 6th (Epiphany).

  16. arvy Nov 15th 2009 at 11:20 pm 16

    From the store’s perspective the logic is clear.

    If I get you to buy lights early I’m getting revenue now that may otherwise have gone to my competitor. Of course, it also means that you are less likely to buy lights later on from me or my competitor.

    If I get you to buy cookies now (and you may be inspired by the fact that you just put lights in your cart, or the novelty of having your first christmas cookie so early) it’s all incremental, since this purchase now will likely have no bearing on your cookie consumption later on.

  17. Susan T-O Nov 16th 2009 at 08:20 am 17

    Since I have been playing my Christmas CDs at work pretty much every day since 2005, I suspect my opinion would be scoffed at here :-)

  18. Nicole Nov 16th 2009 at 09:46 am 18

    When the holiday cookies and cakes are displayed is irrelevent to me. I buy mine at the after Christmas sales for half price and then put them away till next year

  19. Morris Keesan Nov 16th 2009 at 11:23 am 19

    Nicole, I assume that you eat all of your year-old cookies and cakes by dunking them into something liquid, that makes them soft enough not to break your teeth.

  20. Nicole Nov 16th 2009 at 11:29 am 20

    Of course … I dunk them into the egg nog I also got at half price after the previous Christmas

  21. David Nov 16th 2009 at 01:41 pm 21

    A local (for me, Raleigh, NC) radio station has an online stream of 24-hour Christmas music, no commercials, DJs, PSAs, or anything else. I don’t know when they started it, but I first heard them promote it on their regular broadcast 1-2 weeks ago. If this means they’ll hold back on relentless Christmas music starting on Thanksgiving, I’m all for it. Let the junkies get their fix online as early as they want. I just went there to see what it’s like, and got Bob Seeger singing the Little Drummer Boy.

    http://www.carolinachristmasmusic.com/

  22. Sarah Nov 16th 2009 at 01:43 pm 22

    I work in a small shop that mainly sells homemade bread, cakes,biscuits and other homemade or local produce. Due to customer demand,we needed to bring in christmas homemade items before Halloween as people wanted to try them before ordering for christmas.
    Here (in Ireland) we had christmas decorations for sale in August in some stores. We began selling christmas selection boxes and tins of sweets in October due to demand.

  23. Elyrest Nov 16th 2009 at 02:29 pm 23

    David #21 - that seems to be a nice format. I’ll definitely listen to it after Thanksgiving. I don’t know if I ever want to listen to Bob Seeger sing The Little Drummer Boy though.

    Karen #15 - we always celebrated Little Christmas (The Epiphany) growing up. I never understood the trees we’d see outside the day after Christmas. I think it’s what’s happens when you put the tree up right after Halloween. I saw one up in the next block early last week.

    Sarah #22 - so it’s not just in the United States that we like to rush things.

  24. Todd Nov 16th 2009 at 05:58 pm 24

    I couldn’t imagine buying Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, even if I decorated for Christmas. On the other hand, my market has a small section of bulk foods that includes seasonal chocolates. The Halloween designs show up sometime in early September. They are replaced by the Christmas designs the first of November, which are in turn replaced by the Valentine designs the day after Christmas, which are replaced by Easter designs the day after Valentines day. I’m slightly offended by the lack of patriotic designs.

    My rock station, the only soft rock one in town, plays nothing but Christmas songs the entire month of December. Which is why I no longer listen to the radio; I turned it off and never turned it back on.

  25. Nicole Nov 16th 2009 at 06:17 pm 25

    I am already looking forward to January 2nd

    On the issue of holiday music — for those of us who do not necessarily appreciate the ‘music’ of the season there is www.pandora.com

  26. Lambie Nov 16th 2009 at 08:48 pm 26

    They sell the Chrismas cookies so early that you can have a try of those cookies,
    then if you like them you will buy more during Chrismas.

  27. The Bad Seed Nov 16th 2009 at 09:11 pm 27

    I come from a family who generally gradually started putting holly, candles, and figurines around the house sometime between Thanksgiving and the beginning of December, but the tree never went up before Christmas Eve (at about 4 pm or later) and then still had to be decorated before bedtime. But I might be more tolerant of early Christmas decorations and music if I hadn’t worked at a department store for 3 Christmases when I was in my early 20’s (in the mid-1980’s), because it definitely burned me out for a lifetime (I saw the Christmas season’s start move from Thanksgiving week to Halloween to October 1). So left to my own devices, I have a better time getting into and keeping the holiday spirit when I save most of the shopping and decorating until about 2 weeks before the actual holiday, although I try not to do too much at the last minute and get too crazed.

    However, I have totally different feelings about holiday foods - and I’ve already eaten 3 Reeses’ Christmas Trees in the past week since I first noticed them in the stores. I consider Christmas foods to be more like regular seasonal treats such as sweet corn, pomegranates, and Peeps, and I associate them more with the whole season than one particular day. I wouldn’t eat Christmas cookies and candy every single day for 2 or 3 months, but they’re a nice pleasant precursor to the holiday for me. And I might even occasionally eat them in June if they were available, the same way as I occasionally order a full turkey and stuffing dinner in June.

  28. Keera Nov 17th 2009 at 02:47 am 28

    LOL @Nicole! That’s the Christmas spirit!

  29. David A. Rooney Nov 17th 2009 at 08:51 pm 29

    (Geezer Alert) I have an old Doctor Demento Christmas CD I play every year, but not before December 1. My favorite is Weird Al Yankovic’s “Christmas at Ground Zero”.

  30. FeelinOld Nov 19th 2009 at 12:47 am 30

    PaulG: Cherry Candy Canes: MMmmmmmm…..

    As to the rest, I’m going to a clients Christmas party this weekend, so I think there may be a demand, a lot of companies move their parties away from the holidays to make life easier.
    And our town has it’s ‘lights up’ festival this weekend, kind of the start of the season, but the usual skating party won’t happen as the lake is still open water (usually it’s got a skateable thickness of ice by now) although I suppose they could do it in the indoor arena.
    I put up my Christmas lights last weekend so they’d be up for this weekend.

  31. FeelinOld Nov 19th 2009 at 12:57 am 31

    And on the candy cane bit, I’ve already bought some myself, they’ll go on the tree, but not before the middle of December, any sooner and the nephews and friends kids would have it stripped bare by the 24th
    (I of course would have NOTHING to do with the disappearing candy canes…)

    Music: how about the Royal Guardsmen - Snoopys Christmas…

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