Have you been in Target lately?  Okay okay, dumb question, OF COURSE YOU HAVE — but not for nursing mama clothes, you know where to buy those, right, Latched Mama readers; we’ve got you covered!

That said, let’s talk turkey: have you noticed where the Thanksgiving merch is in Target lately?  Because at least in my local store, when I took my little one in the day after Halloween to see about snagging some discounted costumes for the dress-up box (as you do) I found it all on one little endcap, while the Christmas display was going in full polar bear roaring force.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  Hayley, you can still enjoy Thanksgiving, even if Target has decided it’s a paltry poultry holiday that they can’t stuff full enough of consumerist merchandise, even if the entire holiday is pretty much about two things: consumption and being thankful for the abundance of things to consume.  Consumerist heaven!  Except apparently not so much.

And it makes me sad, if I’m being honest.  Thanksgivings present-day focus on being thankful for what we have and spending time with family is so ding-dang nice (with parades, even!) — it feels like a real shame to relegate it to a measly endcap.  So, Target, since you’re apparently not going to go about the business of parenting and holiday-ing for me in this case, I’ve got to step up and work on focusing on the holiday that really matters (hint, the turkey-stuffing-sweet-potato one).

So from now on, I’m doing the following with my child when we go into Target:

• I refuse to browse the Christmas things until AT LEAST an hour after this article side-eyeing the Christmas things goes live.
• Don what I’m calling “snow-blind goggles” — a device I’ve just now invented that will shield your little one’s eyes from anything deemed too wintery before its properly appointed calendar time. (Target, you should probably be selling these!  Win-win for us both, right?)

Fiiiiine, fine.  I guess I could just (insert heavy sigh here) let it go and focus on the thankfulness part of the holiday with my kids instead of getting upset about turkey versus snowman decor at my local consumerist warehouse.  I can focus on making sure we get the food bank donation squared away, the slips of paper for writing down the things we’re thankful for all sliced and diced, all while settling into the cooler fall (it’s FALL, Target, not winter yet, AHEM — oh right, right, I was talking about letting that gripe go, wasn’t I?) and thinking how lucky we are to have a cozy home, a family to sit down with, little ones to love.  And I guess the size of the Target end cap for my favorite holiday, in the end, doesn’t matter too much.

(It’s fall, y’all.  Still fall.)