I have one or two friends who are among those annoying people who buy Christmas presents as early as July or August. They keep sort of a running mental list in their heads alerting them to the interests and desires of family and friends and, if it’s July, August, whenever during the year — WHAM! If they find a good price on something matching their mental lists, they buy it.
I can certainly understand early holiday gift shopping if you’re talking about big-ticket items, from new cars to Samsung TVs to kitchen appliances. But if you are trying to find that special friend or family member one of a myriad of “small ticket” items, keeping mental shopping alerts active in spring or summer for holiday giving many months away — that sort of seems obsessive to me.
On the other hand, I suppose it’s no big deal. I mean, retailers in their desperation start putting out Christmas shopping teasers and displays before Halloween these days. Saw some at W*lmart just the other day.