Christmas and Halloween melded together at many retailers in October. Valley shoppers at stores like Wal-Mart, Kmart and Macy’s saw holiday tinsel alongside bright pumpkin-colored shirts. Through November, expect a generous mixing of Santa and Thanksgiving turkeys. This year, the Twelve Days of Christmas become the Three Months of Christmas, which kicked off the first week of October when Kmart began displaying artificial Christmas trees and Wal-Mart announced its first holiday specials. “We want to lead the market in holiday savings,” said Tiffany Moffatt, a spokesperson at Wal-Mart’s home office in Arkansas. “We want to give parents a chance to get toys and get a jump on the holidays.” Analysts says Christmas in fall is a reaction to the gloomy forecast for the holiday retail season, which traditionally begins the day after Thanksgiving on Black Friday, which this year is Nov. 23. The National Retail Federation, a trade group in Washington, predicted the slowest holiday growth rate in five years. Retail sales are being negatively affected by housing market woes and the rise in gas and oil prices. Studies show that consumers are treading cautiously as the holiday shopping season nears. Stores are already posting poor numbers. In September, Macy’s sales were down 2.7 percent as were sales at Target, L.L. Bean, Nordstrom’s, Pet Smart, American Eagle Outfitters, Robert W. Baird & Co., Kohl’s and many others. Spending for teen clothes has been down 33 percent since spring, and adults were spending 23 percent less on personal purchases, according to a Piper Jaffray report in October. And now it’s a fall Christmas in stores and malls. But retailers won’t admit it. Some analysts say the denial over holiday sprucing weeks before the official season kickoff is because retailers don’t want to seem desperate or be accused of burning out shoppers on the extended Christmas spirit. “The vibe that retailers are feeling is that consumers are showing more caution in purchases,” said Kathy Grannis, spokesperson for the National Retail Federation. “Many retailers are using (preholiday sales to) get customers into the store and get them eager to shop.” Janet DeVor, director of media relations of Macy’s West, based in San Francisco, played down the early Christmas tree displays in select Macy’s. “Holiday trimmers have to decorate 800 trees from California to New York,” she said. In other words, contractors have to start holiday decorating somewhere, so why not in California in October, when the thermometer often registers in the 90s? Kmart typically begins Christmas advertising in mid-November. But not this year. Prices are slashed 40 percent on some items, though company spokespersons say those cuts have nothing to do with getting a jump on the holidays. Christmas trees and ornaments are already for sale at select Kmarts. The Northridge Kmart unveiled its grove of artificial Christmas trees four weeks ago. “The company right now is down in sales, but that has nothing to do with our current specials,” said Erik Alvares, the Northridge Kmart manager. “Customers aren’t spending as much as before.” Some analysts say toy sales may suffer this holiday season due to the China toy scare, in which various toys were found to contain lead paint or magnets that could be swallowed by children and other potential hazards. But Grannis said shoppers have a short memory. “Normalcy is already returning,” she said. “By Thanksgiving, it won’t be on people’s minds.” Nordstrom’s is one retailer that won’t break from its tradition of putting up holiday decorations after Thanksgiving. Even so, the retailer, which posted September earnings below company expectations, has unfurled myriad sales for October. But don’t mention Christmas. “They have nothing to do with the holiday season,” said Nordstrom spokesperson Michael Boyd of store sales. “We have additional markdowns right now to bring our inventories in line.”