Hey, wait a minute! It’s not Christmas yet

Is always in our hearts this?

Kris Kringle needs to pump his ever-loving brakes. Despite the music you hear in grocery stores or the mountains of wrapping and bows on display, it is not Christmastime yet. I mean, yeah, Christmas

and all, but it is not now and is not up next on the calendar.

We have a little thing called Thanksgiving to deal with first. In the mad dash to rip money from each and every one of our pockets, good ole has once again leaped past the holiday that, in recent years, has had families racing through turkey dinner to get to the Black Friday early bird sale.

What has it done to deserve

I am going to go with nothing and that’s partly Thanksgiving’s fault.

Wedged between Halloween ($$) and Christmas ($$$$$$$), Thanksgiving has become the black sheep of the fourth-quarter holidays.

Call me crazy, but I am guessing this has SOMETHING to do with MONEY.

A few weeks ago, the National Retail Association projected that American consumers (that’s you and me) would spend on average $86.13 on Halloween. That’s up from $82.93 in 2016.

The trade organizations say the average consumer expects to spend $967.13 during the holiday shopping season.

The three main categories are – gifts, at $608.06; items such as food, decorations, flowers and greeting cards, at $218.08; and other nongift items consumers buy for themselves and their families, at $140.99, the federation says in a press release.

Last year, the American Farm Bureau Federation projected that the average Thanksgiving Day dinner for 10 would cost $49.87. That was 24 cents less than the $50.11 spent in 2015.

I am also thinking Thanksgiving needs a song.

Christmas has a heap of them. Don’t get me started because I wouldn’t be able to stop listing to them.

Halloween has far fewer, but the ones it does have are awesome: “Monster Mash,” “This is Halloween,” “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah,” etc.

Google “Thanksgiving songs,” and “Jingle Bells” the Christmas song is one of the few things you’ll see. We can do better. Sing this verse with the ones you love:

Smart Mouth