Ridiculously early? Or acceptably tardy? It’s Christmas on State Street!

I realize that many retail-type businesses started decorating for the Christmas holiday over a month ago – just prior to the sugar rush for kids otherwise known as Halloween.

Will this display window remain in use through Valentine's Day? Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

But I have to admit a journey I made Sunday to “that Great street” threw me for a bit of a loop – and I don’t mean the one that circulates el trains around the downtown area.

Is this "A" quality work?

FOR THE DISPLAY windows at Macy’s (the one-time Marshall Field’s) aren’t fully prepared for the holidays. Does this mean Macy’s is slacking off and lagging behind in preparing its holiday window display? Or are they kicking in with something that ought to be complete right about the time that Christmas actually arrives?

It seems the theme for this year is some sort of combination of Christmas with Valentine’s Day – a whole lot of hearts and pink and a combination of the two days.

Which is cute. I’m not complaining. Although it just seems so weak compared to the holiday displays I recall from childhood at the old Marshall Field’s – whose bronze signs remain on the façade of the building, largely because they’re historically significant and Macy’s wouldn’t be allowed to remove them no matter how much they may want to.

The Macy's façade prepares to symbolically blare out the joys of the holiday

Then again, times change. And I’m sure at least a few readers will dismiss me as an old codger for reminiscing about the long-gone days of Uncle Mistletoe.

ONE THING I couldn’t help but notice on Sunday, a few of the windows along Washington Street had special labels indicating they were the result of the Practicum Visual Class at nearby Columbia College.

A leftover sign of the days of old when Marshall Field &Co. would have given the Christmas holiday a particularly-Chicago signature

In the past, Field’s had their own full-time staff dedicated to those window displays – they were a source of professional pride.

Now, they’re just a class project. Let’s only hope we got “A” grade-level work for our holiday this season.

And we'll see how nice the displays look for this holiday season -- which is approaching rapidly, since the city's official holiday tree has already arrived and will soon be on display for all to see.

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