Red Cups are Here.

For me, the debut of Starbucks' Red Cups officially herald the Christmas season. It has been a long-awaited tradition of mine to welcome the season with their special edition drinks and of course, the quest to fill up the sticker card for a "free" planner.

So today, it is officially the Christmas season! Starbucks finally unveiled their new planners and offered their Christmas drinks. After all the hoopla and countdown mania to it, I have to say:

What a let down.

Much as I still love Starbucks, and I still will go through the process of collecting the stickers (for the heck of it! I've collected every single one of them since they first introduced it...yup, the one with the 3 planners you get for completing the card) but this year, I don't feel as excited as I used to. I won't chalk it up to maturity or what, but simply to the fact that for a campaign that highlights traditions, they seem to have misguided definitions of traditions.

My biggest gripe is not the planner, technically, but that they DON'T HAVE PEPPERMINT MOCHA drinks this year! And this is what I looked forward to all year long. Being my favorite drink, it is what allowed me to complete my sticker cards quickly. No matter what they say, adding mint syrup to a mocha frap does not taste the same as the Peppermint drink.

So again I say: after waiting for the red cups, I am sorely disappointed.