Even though Thanksgiving has just now come and gone, with each passing year the Christmas holiday season already seems more entrenched than what it was the year before.

Many “old-timers” 60 and above can recall when their family did not even begin to think about the end-of-the-year holidays until after Dec. 1.

And, on Dec. 1 for those families who every year adorned their homes with a live Christmas tree, the thought of the upcoming “tree hunt” had not yet begun capturing their attention.

But as virtually everyone now acknowledges, times have changed, and the upcoming holidays already have been a very real presence for days or weeks, with some people lamenting that they already are significantly behind in their holiday planning.

The best advice to shoppers and others at this time is to pursue holiday objectives calmly and with respect toward others, and to not get too upset if something does not turn out quite right.