I know how ridiculous this sounds, but I'm serious.
It's pretty common for those that do a lot of holiday cooking and baking might tend to stock up on spices and other ingredients. There could be a run at the market on the seasonal ingredients. Makes sense.
However .... today I have now stopped at SIX stores in the past week with a good range of spices and whatnot .... and NONE of them had bay leaves. Okay, I can imagine being out of poultry seasoning or pumpkin pie spice .... but bay leaves?
Well, fellow cooks .... please be advised ..... and check your own bay leaf inventory tonight. You've been warned! lol 