OK, I need to preface this by saying that I adore Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving, I will be breaking out the Christmas music and starting to decorate the house. But today I am feeling pretty malevolent towards the whole Christmas thing…
See, I need a rake. Specifically, a kid-sized rake that Carrie can use this weekend with Denis so they can get some yard work done while I’m at the shop. I’d like a decent quality rake, but at this point I’d settle for some piece of plastic junk that will be recalled in six months due to excessive lead paint.
Target was a bust. They haven’t had fall stuff out since before Halloween. In fact, the sales associate actually laughed at me when I asked where they might be hiding. KMart was also a bust, although I couldn’t even find anyone to ask. So I thought, Home Depot! They must still have rakes, because their business is home, lawn and garden stuff, not Christmas!
I was encouraged by the big “Fall Cleanup” sign hanging near the door, but that turned out to be a grand total of 17 giant black plastic rakes sticking out of a box…right next to a field of plastic Christmas trees. And when I went to the service desk to ask, I was told “oh, kid rakes sold out a long time ago.” Um, it hasn’t really been fall for all that long… “But it’s Christmas now, and people see them and buy them for gifts so they sell out really fast.”
OK I have two problems with that statement. First of all, who in heck buys a rake as a Christmas gift for a kid? And second of all, last I checked, it’s November 7th. If I’m reading my calendar correctly (and it’s been a long day, maybe I’m not) Christmas is December 25th. If I had walked in on December 7th and asked for a rake, then maybe I could see the reasoning behind telling me it’s Christmas now and rakes are “only sold during the fall. Um, you know, while the leaves are falling.” (OK, um, as a matter of fact all the leaves are actually still mostly on my trees. So, I was kind of thinking that fall isn’t exactly over yet…?)
I’m all for holiday spirit and all that, but please, for the love of Christmas, can’t we at least enjoy some turkey first? And perhaps a good bit of raking and leaf-pile jumping?!?
Hi Sarah – I feel your pain.
here in Canada, we do thanksgiving in early October, so we don’t even have that as a buffer between Hallowe’en and Christmas. One of my co-workers suggested last night that we should be playing Christmas music at work, and I almost decked her.
Yeah- it drives me crazy to see Christmas trees up in stores before Halloween. Too much commercialism. Not enough spiritualism. And too many reminders of how much there is to be done in the next six weeks and how far behind I am already! On top of that, I just shopped for a birthday and now have to come up with a whole new list (not that shopping is bad- but one does need to buy meaningful presents, not just what Disney or Mattel wants you to buy). Sigh. Hope you can find your rake. Maybe Big Lots? Or Lowes? Or Wal-Mart? BTW- the ladybug cake was very cute. :)
Wow – sounds like you were dealing with a pretty mouthy sales person.
Who would think it would be that hard to get a child’s rake. I have noticed they seem to be for sale at the start of summer with shovels and buckets — and when I say the start of summer, I mean like April! What is with stores determining when we can buy seasonal items only 2-4 months before said season? Seems pretty arbitrary.
And X-Mas displays already?
Just crass.
I just saw a trailer for a film called What Would Jesus Buy? about the mass consumerism of X-Mas.
Rant over — hope you find a rake!
Hi! De-lurking here to send you this link for kid rakes!
http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-3584915-3206268?url=search-alias%3Dtoys-and-games&field-keywords=rake
Good luck!
you’d prob’ly be able to find one at grossman’s. they’d most likely be on sale as well. they also make rakes that are designed for getting leaves from under shrubs that tend to be a little smaller as far as head size.
I think I saw one at Wegmans in the front vestibule.
I couldn’t agree with you more!