Christmas already? Bah - that's capital B-A-H BAH - humbug!

 Yesterday, the first day of fall, I stuck my head into Home Goods. 

Fearing that they would be getting Christmas'd up already, I was delighted that all the displays up front were for Halloween in particular and fall in general. Witches, pumpkins, jack o'lanterns, skeletons, autumn leaves, ghosts. Boo! (As in ghost boo, not hiss boo.)

Sure, there's been plenty of Halloween stuff out at CVS and the grocery stores for the past month or two, mostly candy and greeting cards. And those fabulous Halloween Oreos with the bright orange filling that, now that the Nabisco strike has been settled, we can go back to buying. Having Trick or Treat edibles available during August does seem a bit jump the gunnish, but having a full array of merch a month in advance of October 31 seems fine by me.

It's just that September seems way, way, way too early to start bombarding us with Christmas stuff. 

My relief that Home Goods hadn't yet succumbed to Christmas madness didn't last long. 

Turn down the aisle and what to my wondering eyes did appear but Christmas goods galore. Decorations. Cups, bowls,platters. Wrapping paper. Candles. Towels and potholders. Here's just a sample of what's available now, curiously backed by a sign that reads "Harvest Finds."

Oh, I'll get into the Christmas mood at some point - after Thanksgiving. It's just that it's way too early to think about decking the halls when it's still too warm to wear a sweater, and when the Red Sox are still playing. Seeing Christmas regalia around this early brings me absolutely no tidings of comfort and joy. 

There may be an upside. Maybe it's an indicator that the supply chain isn't as screwed up as we're hearing it is. Either that, or stores are dragging out last year's holiday inventory - all that stuff that didn't get sold as we spent the grim and Scrooged-out season sitting around shivering in our masks, drawing cold comfort from our pitiful Charlie Brown Christmas trees, Zooming with friends and family to "celebrate," and stuffing those stockings with IOUs. Yep, last year's Christmas was one big lump o' coal. Maybe stores getting a jump start is a good sign?

Not that I have to like it. I'm still capital B-A-H BAH humbug when it comes to rushing the season. 

Meanwhile, out for a walk the other day, I came upon another Christmas-y thang: a downtown Boston street with fake-snow snowy sidewalks and a big red bow on a building. How festive, if it were December! But why?

The why turns out to be the filming of Apple TV's Spirited, an updated version of "A Christmas Carol" starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. This explains why I spotted Will Ferrell in a restaurant a couple of weeks back. (Actually, my niece Caroline spotted him, but once she pointed him out, I did see him.) What cannot be explained is that the story is set in NYC. They even imported some yellow NYC cabs to park along the street. (I didn't see them in person, just in an article on the filming.) 

So a bit of a mystery. As in why not just a) film in NY, or b) make the location Boston. 

There's always something off when filmmakers try to palm one region/city off on another. Lots of shows and films are made in Toronto, with Toronto impersonating any number of large Northern cities. But when I see the products of faux location, my reaction, if I know the city it's supposed to be, is typically something along the lines of that doesn't look like [city name goes here]. 

A few years ago, I saw a movie set in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with some scenes supposedly taking place in Worcester. I was scratching my head. It didn't look like Worcester buildings, a Worcester street. And the countryside around didn't look like Massachusetts. Was it too few trees or too much farm or something else? Also, the light seemed off. Turns out, the filming was done in Michigan. 

My favorite catch was in a show set in the Boston area that showed a graveyard with a memorial to World War II veterans that listed the dates of the war as 1939-1945. Maybe so, but in an American cemetery, the dates would have been our dates: 1941-1945. I was right: filmed on location in Canada. Which I guess is marginally better than a Hollywood backlot where the buildings are all facades. 

Anyway, between the holiday/snow-filled street scene, and all the holiday home goods at Home Goods, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. 

Way too early! I can't be the only one whose not quite ready to have myself a merry little Christmas. 

These premature holiday celebrators sure know how to put the bah in humbug. (Or is it the humbug in bah?)