Every year, I encounter my biggest pet peeve: stores that put up Christmas decorations and start playing Christmas music WAY too early. It absolutely drives me crazy. I don't need Christmas music playing in September! Also, there is a complete skipping of Thanksgiving! I'm all for Christmas decorations and music starting the day after Thanksgiving, and I must admit much to my husband's horror, I love the hustle and bustle of Black Friday. But Christmas starting September/October/November? No thank you! The other week I walk into one of the two big South African stores we have here and what do I see? I see over-the-top, bordering on gaudy, Christmas decorations everywhere! It's the beginning of November, Thanksgiving is still weeks away (although to be fair, Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here so they don't know that rule) and not only are these two stores decorated for Christmas, they are even playing Christmas music! I absolutely loved it!! I can't explain how happy it made me to see this. Now, as I first mentioned, Christmas too early is one of my biggest pet peeves, but here I was happy and excited to see it! In my defense, I am pretty sure that even as Christmas draws near, only maybe a few other stores will start to decorate for Christmas, nothing even compared to how over the top it is in the States. It was just nice to see something that reminds you that the holidays are coming! I wasn't feeling homesick exactly, but it did make me feel a bit more excited about the approaching holidays. I was also excited to see that they have for sale artificial Christmas trees. Now granted, these are the most obvious, fake Christmas trees I have ever seen, but sometimes it just nice to see that you can get even a bad fake tree which is better than nothing! It's the little things that count sometimes.  -Krista