Christmas is my favorite holiday—hands down. I am guilty of listening to Michael Bublé’s Christmas album all year round. But just because I listen to this all year round doesn’t mean that I am totally okay with how early Christmas is advertised in ads, stores, etc. My rule of thumb, if you will, is that it is okay for Christmas to be advertised and generally thought about after the first day you put your heat on. For me that day was Oct. 17. When you first smell and feel that heat kick on, that’s when it really starts to feel like the Christmas/holiday season is beginning. I am guilty for being overly enthusiastic about the holiday season, but it does make me upset that we glaze over Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is also one of my favorite holidays (okay, I just love holidays in general). Thanksgiving to me is the epitome of family. Yes, Christmas is about family too, but sometimes buying and giving gifts get in the way of what is really important. Thanksgiving has no gift-giving element; therefore, Thanksgiving is much more focused on the family. So, when stores and commercials start to advertise for Christmas at the end of Oct., I feel like they don’t even give Thanksgiving a chance to be popular, which is a shame if you ask me.
This is the only negative of Christmas being advertised too early; otherwise, bring on the holiday season! Now, there are different aspects of Christmas that need to have their timeliness discussed: shopping, music, baking, and decorating.
First is shopping—I have always been one to try and get my holiday shopping done early (I am a raging shopaholic). So, when my friend told me that there were only 10 Fridays left until Christmas I started making my list. I am a lot more about giving gifts than receiving them. If gift giving were a sport, I would be the MVP every time. I put so much time, effort, and money into my gifts—wrapping and all. I don’t see a problem with getting some shopping done fairly early. If something is on sale or if you see something you just know your best friend would love, get it! I don’t think there should be a time frame for purchasing Christmas gifts. In fact, many times at the end of the season, Christmas themed items, sweaters, boots, etc. will be really cheap. If you can keep a secret for a whole year, I would even suggest doing some shopping then!
Wrapping, on the other handshould be done as close to the day, or month, as possible. I’m a gift-wrapping perfectionist—bows, ribbon, I want it all! When it comes to wrapping I feel like the earlier you wrap it, the easier it becomes for the wrapping to fall apart or get damaged. For myself in particular, I have three dogs and they ruin wrapping paper, bows, etc. like they were born to do it. Therefore, I like to wait to wrap until the middle of Dec. so that the wrapping is a crisp and beautiful as it can possibly be.
Next is the music—I already admitted that I listen to the Michael Bublé Christmas album all year round, but there should definitely be a set time that Christmas music is allowed in public and/or on the radio. For me, this would fall the day after Thanksgiving. Any earlier than that and it is way too premature. This year, Thanksgiving is Nov. 26, so that gives us basically one whole month to enjoy Christmas music. That is more than enough. in fact, by then it starts to get a bit repetitive. By Dec. 20 most people are wishing that the reindeer didn’t run over Grandma not because she got hurt, but because no one can possibly deal with hearing that song one more time.
Christmas baking is another one of my favorite aspects of the holiday season. My take is that any kind of baking is okay if you’re baking to share with others. I am sure that if I made Christmas sugar cookies and gave them out to anyone, they would not care what season they were baked for as long as they’re delicious. I do think that you should break out the green and red colored sugar in combination in Dec. only. The type of baking doesn’t matter; what matters is that color combination. Heck, even when I see anyone wearing green and red together in any other month but Dec. it makes me squeamish. Baking in those colors has the same effect on me—Dec. only!
Lastly, the decorations—this is a tough one. My biggest takeaway from seasonal decorating is to let Thanksgiving have its time. No lights, no inflatables, no wreaths until the day after Thanksgiving. Keep the pumpkins, bales of hay, and scarecrows out for Thanksgiving. Decorating for the holidays truly shouldn’t start until Dec., but if you’re as anxious and excited for Christmas as I am, at least do it the day after Thanksgiving. Thinking about it, a fresh Christmas tree wouldn’t last long if you purchased it any earlier.
Unfortunately, stores don’t understand this rule. I was just in a store yesterday and I saw the Christmas section already started. This is far too soon for Christmas related items to be put out for sale. In a marketing perspective, I understand that holiday things need to be put out before Thanksgiving, but it shouldn’t be this soon. Nov. would be a better time for this to start. In Oct. we are still having days like this past week when temperatures could reach the 70’s. No one is thinking about the holiday seasons when the weather is that warm. Furthermore, when I go to the store to look for Halloween related things and I see that the Halloween section has been taken over by Christmas it is a little bit frustrating to say the least.
It is never too early to think about Christmas, but there are certain things that, in Oct., are a little too early to be acting on. Christmas truly is, to quote Andy Williams, “the most wonderful time of the year,” so if thinking about all of the happiness and joyful chaos that the holiday season creates makes you happy, then by all means, start acting like it is the holiday season! There is nothing wrong with being happy and excited for the holidays. But, maybe we should only start revealing this enthusiasm for Christmas via decorations and music around Nov. Let’s let Halloween and Thanksgiving have their time in the limelight, before the big guy steps in.
Let’s hope it won’t be until late Nov. that we start exclaiming “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”
IMAGE TAKEN from mercurie.blogspot.com
