When the last of the Halloween festivities came to a close two weeks ago, most people just enjoyed the extra hour of sleep that Sunday and took down all the festive decorations while enjoying the discounted Halloween candy. However, others instantly made the shift from “spooky season” to “the most wonderful time of the year.”
Before Halloween had even happened, I saw department stores lined with Christmas trees and fake snow. There was a serious lack of last-minute Halloween costumes, but already a full array of ugly holiday sweaters. Then I asked myself, “Is this too early this year to get ready for Christmas?”
Experts say that getting ready for Christmas earlier helps release positive memories from childhood. A psychotherapist told ABC News, “It makes people feel good, so they want to start as soon as possible.”
While this may be true, I still think there are reasons people should wait for the Christmas decorating until at least the week before Thanksgiving.
- You will get sick of Christmas music.
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You’ve already probably previewed at least one Christmas song. I know I have. You heard it in a commercial or in a store, and now you can’t get it out of your system, so the only way is to stream the track on Spotify. However, rest assured, if you start listening to Christmas music now, by the time December 25 rolls around each time Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” starts playing, you’ll say, “Please turn it off.”
It’s human nature to only be able to be in one mindset at a time in terms of music. Switching from songs about being merry and kind to tracks that are full of some not so “Santa approved” lyrics can be hard. Plus, most Christmas music is still from at least a few decades ago, so going from modern pop, rap, and alternative to Frank Sinatra is not soothing to the ears.
- Some of your friends may be confused.
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When friends walk into your place and see the fake snow, the little Christmas tree in the corner, and the colored lights, they will ask themselves if they skipped the first few weeks of November. Most people usually expect decorations to be up around mid-month at the earliest. So, you will probably get a comment or two from them about this quick shift from pumpkins and spiders to reindeer and ornaments.
Some may even be mad that you didn’t wait for them to do this decorating. Part of the fun in getting into the Christmas spirit is doing so with friends, blasting the Christmas music, eating Christmas cookies, and drinking hot chocolate.
- What about Thanksgiving?
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In order to make way for the Christmas festivities, Thanksgiving is morphed into the season. But in reality, the two are very different holidays. Thanksgiving does not have any religious affiliation like Christmas or Hanukkah. Therefore, grouping Turkey Day in with Christmas is a little insensitive to those who don’t celebrate the holiday, because now they spend now two months caught up in the Christmas spirit, instead of just being able to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast.
We cannot forget the sad Thanksgiving decorations at the market. Those plush and wooden turkeys deserve a little love too. Plus, for little ones, it’s important they don’t forget the origins of Thanksgiving. I know we spent at least a month learning about what led up to the Pilgrims and Native Americans eating a feast together that would eventually be annually celebrated and labeled “Thanksgiving.” Now as we seem to skim through the month of November, we brush past this history. The holiday instead becomes a turning point in the Christmas season. It should be recognized for its cultural significance and the concept of taking a day to reflect on all the blessings we have in our lives.
- You will be burnt out by Christmas by the time you see your family and friends back home.
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Celebrating Christmas before it even comes will lead you groaning when your family asks if you want to see your family’s favorite Christmas movie. I don’t care how much you love Elf, that movie is only funny maximum twice per season. And even if you save some of these special rituals you may have until you’re back home, part of you will still feel as if Christmas should have ended by now because you started too early.
Maybe start getting fully into Christmas-mode around Thanksgiving. This way you can get your feet wet with certain traditions while you’re back home, and still have time to celebrate with your friends back up at school. You may even be checked out from doing schoolwork, so take time to relax and soak up the Thanksgiving spirit. Plus, you’ll need that energy for Black Friday. Your aunt is not going to elbow her way through department stores without you in tip-top mental state.
So, while you may be dying to pull out the tinsel, the colored lights, and blast some Christmas tunes, just hold back for another few weeks to get into the full holiday spirit. Maybe start slowly with a holiday movie on Netflix, start buying your friends and family gifts, and add in one or two Christmas tracks on your daily playlist. This way you can get little daily doses of Christmas time before it arrives, which will probably feel sooner than we think!
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