I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. It is my favorite holiday, but its decorations seems to come sooner and sooner each year with little regard with the other two fall holidays.
Last week I was in Wal-Mart buying Halloween décor when I turned a corner and the next shelf was Christmas ornaments and candy. The day after Thanksgiving I will deck my apartment in lights and reindeer and rocking ugly Christmas sweaters, but Christmas items for sale on Oct. 15? That’s pushing it, Wal-Mart, and I am not happy.
I know plenty of people who are Santa shoppers long before that time of year, but I have a problem with premature Christmas advertising and decorating because there are two important holidays before the end of December.
I would like to fully enjoy all of the horror movies I will watch during the Halloween season and attend a hayride and haunted house or two without Christmas songs blaring in the background.
For Thanksgiving, I want to fully give thanks for the mounds of food that I will be consuming and the family that I will fight with over the last piece of pie. Only then, the day after Turkey Day, will I joyfully embrace the fact that Christmas is roughly a month away and start decking my halls and walls..
Not everyone agrees with making Christmas sit down and wait its turn, or has annoyances with premature decorating.
Sophomore English major Alexandria Schoon said she cannot wait for that time of year.
“I want to see snowflakes and hear Christmas music now. It’s definitely the best time of the year,” Schoon said.
On the other hand, respiratory therapy sophomore Kennedy Salts said, “No more premature Christmas decorating. The season just feels rushed and it’s not as fun seeing and hearing Christmas everywhere when we haven’t even celebrated Thanksgiving.”
The Christmas season provides the retail industry with a large amount of revenue, so it is not surprising that stores want to jump-start the holiday season as soon as possible.
It would be great if everyone could (including the stores and advertisements) wait for Black Friday, where someone will most likely trample a poor employee for a TV the day after they were thankful for what they already had.
Special education sophomore Tori Porter said, “Thanksgiving is all about Black Friday rather than family. So you are technically celebrating Christmas because you are buying gifts. I love Christmas, but it should be celebrated for more than the obvious reasons and not until after Thanksgiving.”
I am as excited for Christmas as Buddy the Elf, but I agree every holiday should get its turn rather than having a “Hallowgiving”. As an American citizen, it is my responsibility to celebrate the day with mounds of food just as my Pilgrim ancestors did in 1621.
