Not that strange.
The Christmas stuff started clogging the store shelves after Halloween around here, but I think a lot of regular people were caught flatfooted by the unusually short time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I was. I'm seeing the lights on the houses now, but it did seem like it was a last-minute thing.
And yeah, a lot of people shop on the internet. It's a hell of a lot easier, especially for esoteric items.