I almost had an Episode this past Friday: I noticed that the local Ben Franklin had put up all of their Holiday decorations out. It wasn’t that it was because were in the beginning of November, mind; I had forgotten that Halloween had passed and we were in November. Yes, I’m that conditioned that I accept Halloween as the “official start” of the retail holiday season.

The good news is that Starbucks, which was lingering in an Autumn theme the last couple of weeks, transformed into its holiday mode this morning: everything was red and shiny and the Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latte, and Peppermint Latte are back on the menu board… as is a Chai Eggnog Latte, which just sounds wrong on very many levels…

Let the glugging begin!