The Home Planet : A double tall November, please

Gee, the time gets away from you, doesn’t it?

It seems like one day I helped my youngest daughter slip her Halloween costume over her head so she could trick-or-treat around the neighborhood, and the next, I was late for Christmas.

Didn’t there used to be a day or two in between?

I walked into Starbucks last Thursday with my 16-year-old daughter. Her school starts a little later on Thursday mornings so we usually stop for coffee and a treat on our way. It gives us a little time together, to catch up and talk before we separate for work and school.

When we walked in that morning, I was vaguely aware that something looked a little different, but I was so intent on watching the woman in front of me to see if she was going to be inconsiderate enough to take the last pumpkin scone, I didn’t really pay attention to anything else.

The woman did take the last scone. Really – some people. That meant I had to decide what I wanted to eat. I pressed my nose against the glass pastry case and then I ordered my coffee, a tall drip with room for cream. The young woman behind the counter handed me a red paper cup.

“Here’s your Christmas blend,” she chirped.

For a second, I was confused. I didn’t know what she was talking about. And that’s when it hit me. My neighborhood Starbucks looked different because overnight it had been transformed. Everything was decorated for Christmas.

All the fall colors were gone and in their place were snowy scenes and lots of red and white. The whole room looked like a big fat Christmas sweater.

Even the coffee had been decorated with a new name.

I considered having a tantrum, or at the very least whining about it, but chickened out because there were too many people in line behind me. And they looked like they didn’t care what it was called as long as they got a cup of hot coffee to drink on the way to work. And they got it now.

So I took the cup. And I drank the coffee, but it left a bitter taste.

I don’t care what anyone else says, I’m just not ready for what’s left of the fall to disappear into the holiday hysteria.

I don’t want the Christmas blend. I want the “Two Weeks After Halloween Blend.” Or the “Two Weeks Before Thanksgiving Blend.” Or the “Autumnal Frosty Morning Between Holidays That Require Decorating Blend.”

On the bright side, at least they weren’t playing Christmas songs. According to the Starbucks PR machine, that won’t come for another couple of weeks. I was able to sit at a table and pout over a muffin while Bob Dylan wailed in the background.

I’m not ready for Christmas. I don’t want to be stressed out. I just want a cup of coffee. No sleigh bells, no carols and no big fat sweater

Just a hot cup of coffee with no stress attached. That’s all I want.

Well, that and a pumpkin scone.