The holidays have come to MCLA early this year with new strings of lights going up daily as student’s deck their halls and suites with holiday cheer and cover their doors in wrapping paper and bows. The turkey has not been cut yet, and the dismissal of one of the most important birds of the year has other students gobbling about holiday favoritism. Are there rules for celebrating the holiday season? When are we allowed to deck the halls, spin the dreidel or prepare to light the Kinara?
Freshman Caroline Leaver has brightened her suite’s lounge area with paper snowflakes and a tiny tree and she and her suite mates are working to create a mock fireplace out of recycled boxes for Santa to come in through.
“There are only the rules you make up for yourself,” Caroline said. “It’s 365 days of Christmas. My family is a little messed up but Christmas is the one time of year when everyone is somewhat normal and happy and together.”
Christmas and Thanksgiving have caused quite a clatter on social media this month. Some Christmas fans were outraged with the arrival of Starbucks’ simple holiday cup design saying the company is not supporting Christmas, leading Starbucks to post a press release on their website saying the cups are “a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”
The Thanksgiving fans on Facebook brought back a sign posted by a Nordstrom in 2009 that said: “We won’t be decking our halls until Friday, November 27. Why? Well, we just like the idea of celebrating one holiday at a time. From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.”
(Source: Consumerist.com)
It is clear both sides, those who celebrate holidays in order of occurrence and those who carry their festive cheer all year are passionate about their traditions, and why not? A whole season full of different cultures and celebrations focusing on family and giving will of course be looked forward to.
Freshman Erin Carney would rather holidays be savored slowly.
“I’m a one holiday at a time kind of girl,” Erin said. “I feel like it’s one of those things where if you celebrate too many holidays at once, what’s the point of celebrating the holiday? They happen for one day for a reason.”
As they say, Christmas comes but once a year and Hanukkah only eight nights, and maybe that is part of what makes holidays so special, because we can look forward to them and imagine all of the new memories we will make. But for many people, waiting until the Mark Hopkins clock chimes on 12 a.m. on November 1st is long enough. And sometimes even before that.
For Lauren Levite, a junior and known holiday enthusiast, Thanksgiving and Christmas are the perfect pair to bring together family and friends over cheer and good food.
“I feel like the whole controversy comes from the capitalist view,” Lauren said. “You look at Thanksgiving and you look at Christmas and businesses are going to make money off of Christmas so they start advertising even before Halloween starts. I think if Easter lasted for a whole month it would be weird, so I think some people view Christmas the same way, and that it’s not time yet. I don’t think there should be rules about holidays though because that takes the fun out of it.”
Kmart kept up their winning streak this year by airing the first Christmas commercial of 2015 in September, days after Labor Day and angry shoppers took to Facebook to express frustration at being faced with holiday stress in summer. Brad Tuttle at Money.com wonders why stores choose to blatantly risk angering and even losing customers by advertising holidays and layaway so soon.
“It seems like every shopping season seems to expand every year,” Tuttle said. “So retailers are constantly trying to beat the competition to the punch in terms of snagging shopper dollars.”
Senior Kelsey McGonigle does not believe in wasting your energy on worrying about other people or their holiday traditions.
“I think that if people wanna start celebrating anything they can do it when they want,” Kelsey said. “Who cares if someone wants to start celebrating Christmas in September, if it makes them happy and it isn’t hurting you, why not? You can’t control anyone else you can only control what you do, so why let something you have no control over make you upset, ya know?”
Whether you look forward to this time of year for the coffee cups, commercials, turkey stuffing or frying up some hot potato latkes just make sure your celebrations are fair, fun and friendly. No matter what you celebrate at this time of year or in what order, it’s not properly celebrated without kindness.