So, is it tacky to have Christmas decorations up before Remembrance Day? Who is the first neighbour on your block to put up Christmas lights?
(Well, it is easier to do it before the ground freezes solid and it’s so cold that it’s hard to handle the light strings.) And when do you have your Christmas shopping wrapped up?
According to Statistics Canada, more and more of us are doing our gift shopping in November. With more online shopping, and the need to allow for shipping times, it makes sense. Heck, we can now think of December 1 as the beginning of the last-minute shopping season.
In 2020, Canadian retail sales (season-ally adjusted, that is) in December were at $53.4 billion. That represents a 3.4 per cent decrease over the amount of money spent at Canadian retailers in November. Yes, more people shop and spend money in November than they do in December, despite all those Boxing Day sales.
So, we’ll see you in Christmas-shopping lineups awfully soon. Why wait?
This article appears in the November 2021 issue of Edify
