One of the operational premises behind daylight savings time is that by setting your clock ahead at 2 am on a Sunday morning, you minimize the impact of the time change. At 2 AM on a Sunday, almost everyone is asleep. Very few people are going to miss an appointment because they were supposed to meet someone at 2:30 AM, and the clock on that day went from 1:59 to 3:00. Other than sleeping, what were you doing with that hour, anyway?
One way to interpret this is that the people who created Daylight Savings Time didn't think much of the 2 AM hour on a Sunday morning.
What an inspired thought!
If you could do that with an hour, couldn't you also do it with a day, or even a week? What about a whole 'season'?
I don't think too much of Christmas, or Christmas shopping, or for that matter, shopping - but Christmas shopping is just the nexus of two really bad ideas - two bad tastes that go bad together [sic]. Retailers have been encroaching on my sensibilities for months, but all hell is going to break loose very shortly. So I have a plan.
At 2 AM this Sunday, I am setting my calendar ahead to January 2, 2009.
Problem solved!
(I know what your thinking... the answer is, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's a Wonderful Life" are available on DVD. You can watch them anytime.)