Recession is coming.

Stores have been stocked since Halloween.

They were hauling Xmas stuff out in mid-October.

even the amount of the air-powered lawn props were limited.


Maybe they will get more this week, but it seemed like the volume of things was half of what it was in years past.

Even one store who turned their lawn and garden section to all Christmas during this time just had that section locked.


They know the economy is about to crash

The Target and Walmart where I live in Maryland seem to be suprisingly short stocked. Some of the ornament displays are empty and Black Friday is this week.
There are less lights ,no white corded lights. Halloween was skimpy too.
I have also noticed less food in the grocery stores too.

I didn't think I was crazy

I went browsing on one of my favorite fabric sites and she mentioned in a description of one fabric that the tariffs brought the price up an extra $5/yd. It made me consider that there are lots of imports that don't fall into the exceptions made or delayed until 12/15.

The tariffs are onerous on US consumers.

Holiday decorations, packaging and trimmings of every kind, and truthfully they are quite nice and certainly affordable. No, they aren’t heirloom quality, but in a year when the cost of presents is skyrocketing, people are looking for savings on the sparkly stuff.

This is looking to be the very first Christmas where neither my wife or I step into a brick and mortar store to make a purchase related to Christmas other then buying food for the Christmas dinner.