Halloween… Was it almost a week ago already?
That means 50 more days until children run down the stairs at the crack of dawn and a certain someone gets a couple of bites of cookies and a glass of milk deep into the night. Some parents are still up wrapping presents – a last minute assembly line between mom and dad in order to get them wrapped before morning – only for the minute their heads touch the pillow, the stomps of small of socked feet rocking the bed force them awake.
But before then, 30 days prior, a holiday full of dry turkey, grandparents’ perfume, Sunday football, sweet potato pie, and a table straight out of a Dr. Suess book occurs. It is the last day before peppermint replaces pumpkin spice, winter officially replaces autumn, and Mariah Carey hits number one on the radio. Again.
Despite the chronological order from November and December, a different priority sets itself as precedent: Christmas is celebrated before Thanksgiving.
According to holiday legend, Martha Stewart, and her magazine team, more than 27 percent of American adults start decorating for the Christmas season before Thanksgiving. According to my father, doing so is sacrilegious and a demonstration that will revert America to a communist state.
I, at one point, had agreed with him, but in the last couple of years, I have found myself slowly slipping past the barrier of candy canes, Hallmark movies, and Phoenix’s 99.9 FM radio station and into a winter wonderland. A subtle and unconscious shift that wasn’t noticeable until a minute or two later, and by then, I was already enjoying the festivities so much that switching the channel or station would have brought more harm than good.
Likewise, with such a limitation of how long you can experience the best time of the year, why prohibit yourself from it and make that seasonal depression so much worse? I say you no longer have to. If the world gives you lemons (or Christmas movies and incentive to grab your ugliest Christmas sweater), make lemonade (or hot chocolate).
If you decided to play by my father’s rules – he would be happy to know – and now, you longingly look out your car window at the passing Christmas trees twinkling inside windows and icicle lights hanging from rooftops, know that it is okay, and you are warranted. I will just be sipping on my peppermint hot chocolate as I look upon you with pity.
In the theme of this article, and the whole point of why you are reading this – to figure out if your stockings above the fireplace are well-grounded or if you should keep the dusty Christmas boxes nestled in the shed – there is no definite answer on if it is right or wrong to celebrate Christmas before Thanksgiving.
Whether you want your holiday cheer a little earlier in the season and Christmas to last a little longer or to focus on just how you’ll stuff the turkey this year and give thanksgiving its well deserved time, there is no prejudice.
The great thing about the United States of America is you get to choose and love thy neighbor whether they have their Christmas lights up or whether their house will look the same all through the season, never to get dressed in Christmas spirit. For the latter, is your name Ebenezer Scrooge? Just wondering.
Nevertheless, your timely celebrations are yours to choose when you have them. So, tomorrow will you grab a pumpkin spice latte or switch it up for the first time with a shot of peppermint?
And, dad if you have read this, don’t kill me for spreading communist behavior or blame me for the second Cold War.
Happy Holidays!