Every year, my family gathers around the dinner table to eat and celebrate, watch the Macy’s Parade and the dog show, and close out the fall season. The next morning, we go out to get a Christmas tree. That day, we decorate, we play Christmas music, and put ornaments on the tree that we’ve had since before I was born! These traditions are why I believe so firmly in the start date for Christmas. It is not November 1st, but December 1st. Christmas should always come after Thanksgiving.
I can hear some of you clicking off my page. But wait! For those of you who aren’t convinced, let me put it a different way. I feel like there can be too much of a good thing. A little anticipation never hurt anyone! Why do stores put out Christmas displays before they’ve even taken down the Halloween ones? They clash, pumpkins and maple leaves still out next to shiny new candy canes and snowflakes. Radios start playing Christmas music on November 1st, alongside promoting local corn mazes and apple picking. Temperatures aren’t low enough for Frank Sinatra to be crooning to me about mistletoe and holly. Here in the south, temperatures stay pretty warm considering the winter storms states like New York seem to get yearly around Christmas time.
Freeform doesn’t start playing Christmas movies until December 1st, as they should. At least some mega-corporations know that overconsumption of the holiday will burn out your festive cheer and replace you with a grinch like me! A fellow chapter member grinch and I spoke on this subject, and the two of us agree that all that festive music is really too much in a month meant to be warm and comforting, about ending a season, rather than play out a holiday for an extra month when there’s no winter chill in the air. It can be overwhelming to draw out planning Christmas presents and meals so far in advance, leaving you feeling drained on the actual day. Concentrating all your festive spirit into one month makes more sense to us!
All jokes aside, I don’t think there will ever be a consensus on when the holidays start and begin. They happen so close together, and for most of us, it’s how we were raised to celebrate and live through these periods that informs how we do to this day! Who am I to tell you that drinking hot chocolate and listening to Mariah Carey, at any time of year, is wrong? I think both sides can agree that each other has valid points, but whether there will ever be a clear winner is not a question I can conclusively answer. Our chapter leans heavily on the side of November 1st, so my dissent is noted. Several people feel the date is important, others feel that the feeling of Christmas is in the air during the fall month, but I can’t help but disagree with every fiber of my being. Celebrate the holidays the best way you know how, and don’t feel down if it takes me a month to catch up to your Christmas spirit!