I'm not sure it's entirely fair to count items like that as part of the 'cost of living', since you can easily do without them -- but I think sales during the 'holiday season', meaning around Christmas and the new year (in the US it usually extends back to Thanksgiving) account for a significant % of full year sales -- so prices for seasonal items are often inflated a bit to take advantage of the fact more people tend to be in a buying mood -- it's the same everywhere
It was interesting to see that the Christmas sales already started in Russia too. There are certain songs that were recorded in the 1940’s and 1950’s, by singers who are now dead, that are played on the radio and in stores every Christmas season. I started to hear them yesterday on my drive to the grocery store and also at the gasoline station. I like to celebrate Jesus’ birth every year, but in the stores, Jesus is hardly mentioned. It is as though Christmas is just a pagan holiday now. Before I was born, my Father and Grandfather planted a few acres of Scotch Pine trees on my Grandfather’s property that was a 1 1/2 hour drive away from the city. When I was in elementary school, the trees were 4 to 6 feet tall. My father would cut over one hundred of them each year and bring them to the fenced in backyard of our home to sell as Christmas trees. It was the job of my younger brother and I to greet customers after school and on weekends, then brush off snow from and stand up certain trees so the customers could see its size and shape. We also gave away free branches for decorating fireplace mantles. My little sister never had to help with the Christmas trees because my parents didn’t consider that women’s work. My brother is resentful of her to this day because he believes that he did much more work than her in our Childhood. Today my sister is a hospital administrator and is more successful than both my brother and I.
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I'm not sure it's entirely fair to count items like that as part of the 'cost of living', since you can easily do without them -- but I think sales during the 'holiday season', meaning around Christmas and the new year (in the US it usually extends back to Thanksgiving) account for a significant % of full year sales -- so prices for seasonal items are often inflated a bit to take advantage of the fact more people tend to be in a buying mood -- it's the same everywhere
It was interesting to see that the Christmas sales already started in Russia too. There are certain songs that were recorded in the 1940’s and 1950’s, by singers who are now dead, that are played on the radio and in stores every Christmas season. I started to hear them yesterday on my drive to the grocery store and also at the gasoline station. I like to celebrate Jesus’ birth every year, but in the stores, Jesus is hardly mentioned. It is as though Christmas is just a pagan holiday now.
Before I was born, my Father and Grandfather planted a few acres of Scotch Pine trees on my Grandfather’s property that was a 1 1/2 hour drive away from the city. When I was in elementary school, the trees were 4 to 6 feet tall. My father would cut over one hundred of them each year and bring them to the fenced in backyard of our home to sell as Christmas trees. It was the job of my younger brother and I to greet customers after school and on weekends, then brush off snow from and stand up certain trees so the customers could see its size and shape. We also gave away free branches for decorating fireplace mantles. My little sister never had to help with the Christmas trees because my parents didn’t consider that women’s work. My brother is resentful of her to this day because he believes that he did much more work than her in our Childhood. Today my sister is a hospital administrator and is more successful than both my brother and I.
Very nice red coat you wear.