RETURN TO CAPRA

From all evidence, Harvard Square merchants are already dreaming of a white Christmas--and the Thanksgiving turkeys have not even been cooked yet.

As of last week, the wire-strung lights above Mass. Ave. near the Coop and Baskin Robbins glimmered merrily against the November cold. Retailers played Christmas music to lure shoppers into their stores. And, most appalling, the day after Halloween, CVS replaced its bags of orange and black candy corn with bundles of red and green foil-wrapped goodies.

Of course, many malls across America have been selling Christmas merchandise for months now. But Harvard Square--even with Tower Records, the Gap and all--is one of America's last vestiges of anything approaching village shopping. You can purchase every present you need within a space of a few blocks from such one-and-only stores as Wordsworth Abridged, Cardullo's and the Coop. When the snow begins to fall, you almost feel like you're on the set of "It's a Wonderful Life," with the goodness of humanity surrounding you.

But now is not the time for such unabashed benevolence to reveal itself, not until the last spoonfuls of cranberry sauce have been scraped from the bottom of the bowl and the last scraps of turkey have been gobbled up. A word to Harvard Square retailers: forget about the red and green lights until Monday, at least. Then we'll be more likely to heed the annual call of greed.