Christmas in July, Halloween in August, where’s Thanksgiving?

I missed it again.

Every year the deadline looms and zooms by before I even notice. The Halloween candy hits the shelf right bout the same time the back-to-school stuff arrives in late July, early August.

Then, within moments of leftover bags of candy and plastic pumpkins hitting the clearance shelves, the Christmas trees are in full bloom and the halls are decked with holly.

So where's Thanksgiving? I've got 20 people coming for dinner on that all-American Thursday and I wanted a few new decorations  to add to my standards.

I stopped at one store and wandered through the aisles filled with wreaths and tinsel and pine cones that smell like cinnamon looking for one teeny, tiny piece of evidence that Thanksgiving was still three weeks away.

Nothing.

Not a plastic turkey, no cornucopia filled with whatever you stick in cornucopia, nothing. Stockings were hung and silver bells were dangling and I was about ready to lose my cool when one of Santa's little helpers walked through.

"Excuse me," I said with all the holiday spirit I could muster. "But do you know where I can find some Thanksgiving decorations?"

"Thanksgiving?" she said with a puzzled look on her face.

I'm not kidding, she looked like she didn't know to what I was referring. "Yes, Thanksgiving," I said. "You know families gathered together giving thanks for all they have usually with a turkey, mashed potatoes and the Detroit Lions on a Thursday?"

She pointed me in the right direction, about four aisles due north near the cards. And there it was, the bounty I had come in search of: two wreaths made of orange and bronze leaf-shaped foil pieces, some sticky things for the window and three packages of napkins.

Good grief.

Every year it gets sooner, Christmas in July, Halloween in August and Thanksgiving is relegated to a family dinner with a few turkey imprinted paper plates and leftover orange napkins from Halloween. There's no sense whining and fussing because it isn't going to change.

Facebook friends commented that it was a lot like trying to a bathing suit in the middle of summer when all the fall clothes are hitting the stores. Or looking for a winter coat in January when summer's shorts are being displayed.