Walking into Michaels in early October, I was presented with rows of fake fall foliage, plastic pumpkins, scary skulls and other decorations celebrating Halloween and the wondrous season of fall.

But as I started walking to the back of the store, I noticed an out of place display featuring Christmas ornaments, green plastic trees and bright lights — a display that should have been in storage.

Christmas was months away, almost a quarter of the year, so why were such decorations even there?

I was infuriated: The Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving, not in the middle of fall. Imagine Santa Claus crunching fallen leaves beneath his black boots instead of leaving footprints in the white snow. It’s just not right.

Listening to holiday music and singing Christmas carols two months early results in the Christmas season losing some of its excitement and joy. “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and “All I Want for Christmas” have no place among Jack-o-lanterns or Thanksgiving feasts.

If we celebrated Christmas for three months straight, much of the joy would die off. The festivities would be spread out and the holiday wouldn’t seem as special.

Of course, those holiday decorations I saw at Michaels were yet another attempt by retailers to exploit customers’ tendency to spend big for Christmas by luring them in with sparkly lights and merry tunes. Even so, there is no logical reason to celebrate Christmas this early, except for monetary greed, fueled by susceptible consumers manipulated by the pretenses of joyous spirit imposed upon them.

So instead of being swept up by distant jollity, let’s enjoy the fall with its beautiful changing colors and light breezes and save the Christmas season for December, when it is a respectable time to put on a Santa Hat and shuffle holiday playlists.