Fall is the ultimate season to eat good food, enjoy the festivities, and most importantly, spend time with your family. Here at Her Campus Lasell, we’ve curated the ultimate guide on how to absolutely *crush* this Thanksgiving season, from how to perfectly decorate your dorm for the holiday, cooking tips and tricks for the holiday, and the importance of giving back.
In the past few years, the debate over when it is socially acceptable to start playing Christmas music has escalated into an all-out war. There are people who begin playing Christmas music the second the clock strikes midnight on November 1st, and those who think that anything Christmassy should be neither seen nor heard until December. These two groups of people love calling each other out on the internet, usually by way of memes, and frankly I wonder when this war will be over.
I want to propose a treaty of sorts. The appropriate time to start playing Christmas music is neither November 1st or December 1st, it’s Black Friday. I think it’s the perfect happy medium, and here’s why:
It allows us to enjoy a month of Christmas music without encroaching on Halloween or Thanksgiving
Proponents of not playing Christmas music until December 1st argue that it takes attention away from Halloween and Thanksgiving, while those who start playing it on November 1st argue that it’s never too early for Christmas music. I can see both sides of the issue: Halloween and Thanksgiving should be recognized as holidays without Christmas stealing the show, but frankly Christmas music is fun and uplifting, and who wants to limit that? Black Friday falls after both Halloween and Thanksgiving, but is still usually a solid month before Christmas. So if you were to start playing Christmas music on Black Friday, you’d get 4 or 5 weeks (depending on when Thanksgiving falls, of course) to enjoy it without others putting you on blast for not letting Halloween and Thanksgiving pass first.
Black Friday is the start of holiday shopping, so why can’t it be the start of the holiday season in general?
Growing up, I was taught that Black Friday marked the start of the Christmas season. It’s when the tree ornaments were brought down from the attic, garlands and red bows were strung on the stair railings, and yes, when my mother started playing Christmas music on the stereo. My parents’ reasoning? Black Friday is when people start taking Christmas shopping seriously, so why not start all things Christmassy? For many people, Black Friday puts them in the holiday mindset as they seek out Christmas gifts for their friends and loved ones, so why can’t we pounce on that idea and start playing Christmas music then?
It prevents that weird gray area between holidays where nobody knows what to do
I HATE that week between Christmas and New Years. I always had it off from school, but there was never any celebrating to be done during that time, so I usually find myself lounging around and forgetting what day it is. If we forgo playing Christmas music till December 1st, then there ends up being a weird gray area (which can span from a few days to 2 weeks) between Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season, which is basically the same as that weird final week of the year. I don’t know about you, but I like the idea of a seamless transition between Thanksgiving and Christmas.