There are two types of people when Christmas comes to town on November 1.
There’s Buddy the Elf…
And there’s Scrooge…
And then there’s me. Utterly conflicted and confused. I LOVE Christmas. You can ask anyone that I know. I am crazy for Christmas. It has been and always will be my favorite time of year and my favorite holiday. So when Wal-Mart puts Christmas stuff out with the Halloween stuff, I don’t know what to do. When radio stations start playing Christmas music literally the day after Halloween, I am at a loss. I want so badly for it to be Christmastime already, and some would say that it is already Christmastime.
Is it though?
Should I just give in and start singing Christmas songs and putting up decorations now? Every year it gets harder and harder to hold off on the Christmas spirit because as soon as Halloween costumes and candy disappear from the stores, Christmas is everywhere overnight. I bought a bottle of Coke for a Halloween party that said, “Share a Coke with Someone Nice!” What is that about? Christmas comes earlier and earlier every year. ABC Family would have us believe that it is absolutely already Christmas. They have a Christmas Countdown TO THE CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN!
What is this?? Why do we need a countdown to the countdown?? I mean ABC’s 25 Days of Christmas is incredible, don’t get me wrong. But do we really need to watch Elf fifteen times before December, when we will watch it thirty more times? Another concern I have is that we basically skip over Thanksgiving. Granted, it is not the most exciting holiday. I mean there are no Thankgiving songs and there aren’t really Thanksgiving movies and no one gets presents on Thanksgiving. However, Thanksgiving is an important holiday, despite its somewhat questionable origins.
In our consumer-driven society, it is very easy to look past everything that we are grateful for when we are being bombarded with advertisements and messages saying that we NEED to buy things during this time of year. But I do think we need this holiday, and I definitely don’t think that it should be lumped in as a “pre-Christmas.” We should always be grateful at any time of the year, but Thankgiving has always been a good kick-off to the holiday season. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade brings Santa to town, and that is when the holiday season should start. Which brings me to Black Friday.
Do I even need to talk about how disgusted I am by Black Friday? Many workers don’t get to have Thankgiving dinner because they have to rush away from their families to work Black Friday sales starting at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. People have been trampled to death in the masses of people trying to rush to buy things on sale. For the love of God just shop online, people! Is it really worth it? You have just finished giving thanks for everything that you have, and then you rush out the door to buy more things. It just doesn’t make sense. I am not saying that we absolutely have to wait to do anything festive until December 1, but I just think that it could be a little more gradual throughout November. I absolutely love Christmas, and it is hard for me to hold off sometimes too, but if we make Christmastime two and three months long, it isn’t special anymore.
My favorite things about Christmas aren’t what I buy or what I receive. It’s about spending this magical time with the people whom I cherish. Christmas brings people together through singing songs, having parties, baking cookies, watching Christmas movies, and so much more. When all of that starts too early, something truly is lost when it comes to Christmastime being the most wonderful time of the year. Now I am crying and humming “Carol of the Bells” because I love Christmas so much. I want you to think about what Christmas means to you and hold on to it a little while longer. And if you completely disagree with me and want to start blasting Christmas music every year starting November 1, go right ahead. Christmas is Christmas, and it’s great anyway, I just hope that it doesn’t lose what makes it so special.