I'm Back (Yes, Already)
Hi. It's Ginny. I know it's still technically summer where you are — I can see the flip-flops in your Instagram grid, and no, I'm not judging, I'm just letting you know that while you were at the beach, the Manhattan satellite office of Kringle, Inc. quietly reopened for the season.
Yes, in August. I get the same face from my building's doorman every year around this time, the one that says it's 94 degrees outside, Ginny. And every year I tell him the same thing: by the time it feels like Christmas, it's too late to actually get ready for it.
Here's what I mean. The advent calendar you want? The really good one, not the backup one? It sold out by the second week of November last year. The ornament set that made your neighbor's tree look like something out of a magazine? Pre-order only, gone by Halloween. The wreath everyone was obsessed with two Decembers ago? I watched three different friends settle for their third-choice option because they started looking in December, when December is, respectfully, the finish line — not the starting line.
So consider this your very early, very sincere warning shot: it's happening again. The good stuff is already starting to show up, and I intend to spend the next few months finding it before it disappears.
What that actually looks like around here for the next few weeks:
I'll be tracking which retailers have flipped their floors over to holiday (it happens faster than you'd think — usually right around now), keeping an eye on which advent calendars have opened for pre-order, and generally reporting back on anything worth knowing before everyone else knows it too. Some of it will be useful. Some of it will just be me getting a little too excited about a raccoon ornament. Both are on brand.
I'm also already thinking about my own tree theme for this year, which I'll share soon — and if past years are any indication, I will change my mind about it at least twice before Thanksgiving.
A few things to expect this season:
Weekly countdown posts, starting properly once we're closer to the actual season
Gift guides organized by person, not just by category, because "gifts for people who like candles" is a more useful sentence than "gifts under $50"
An actual running Shop page this year, sorted by Ornaments, Wreaths, Advent Calendars, Lights, and more — so you're not digging through old posts to find that one thing I mentioned in October
Me, being slightly too invested in all of it, on schedule, as always
If you think I'm jumping back in too soon, I'd gently point out that you're already reading a blog called Ginny Kringle in August, so some part of you agrees with me.
Welcome back to the office. Let's get started.
— Ginny
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