If you’ve already started your holiday shopping, you’re not alone.

More people are getting in the holly, jolly spirit earlier than normal, says Jon Quinn, from the Consumer Marketing Academy at Indiana University.

“People are wanting to celebrate and have something to look forward to because it’s been such a relatively bleak year,” Quinn said.

Your eagerness may have been slightly assisted, with the emails you’ve been receiving from companies and stores telling you about how their Black Friday deals have already started. There’s a reason for that.

“They’re concerned about how much sales they’re going to be able to push through in their typical compressed timeline,” Quinn said. “So they’re trying to pull some of those sales forward.”

It’s not just gifts that people are buying earlier than usual. Quinn says sales of Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations are up this year as well.

“People are realizing ‘well, we’re going to be home, so let’s make it as celebratory as possible,'” he said.

With more people spending more time at home, you can imagine why the most popular gifts this holiday season are trending towards things to do at home. Quinn says things like board games, puzzles, video games and home exercise equipment look to be the hot items.

Quinn adds that “Small Business Saturday” — the latest day dedicated to holiday shopping, along with “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” — means a lot more in 2020.

“Even before the pandemic hit, there was this movement to buy more local, and now, people are very in-touch with the small-business person right now, and they’re seeing the closures happening.”

So, you’re being encouraged to spend a little more if you can, not just to cheer up your loved ones, but to also support your local businesses that have been struggling during the pandemic.