Even before Halloween, car brands began showing holiday commercials. It seems like by the time mid-October hits, everyone is impatient to skip Halloween and fly right to the holidays. Many shops begin decorating their storefronts before Halloween is over, or even on Halloween, and Christmas music often begins on Nov. 1.
However, many people don’t see this as a reasonable move. Many people hold onto fall as long as they can, and many people even celebrate Halloween through the majority of the fall, keeping their decorations out as long as possible.
The weather’s getting cooler, leaves are beginning to fall, and now that Halloween’s over, the true argument begins; when is it truly time to decorate for Christmas?
While my family does not begin to celebrate or decorate until after Thanksgiving, I have already made my Christmas playlist and started buying decorations for my dorm. While we won’t be on campus for very long into the Christmas season, I made a point last year to decorate my space, and it really helped me get through my finals with a positive mindset.
Many people who argue that Christmas starts right on or after Thanksgiving, at least in America, often point to two pieces of media when making their argument: the Elf on the Shelf and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We are conditioned as children, at least, to believe that the true holiday season begins after Thanksgiving because of the traditions surrounding these two things.
The Elf on the Shelf is a fun way to get children to behave during the holiday season (sorry for ruining the magic) and have them earn their way onto Santa’s nice and naughty list. Personally, I never had one as a child, but all of my friends did, and my parents had one in their business for a long time. The legend of the Elf on the Shelf says that the elf travels to its child’s home sometime in the last week of November, but almost every family that I knew had the elf come on Thanksgiving, a true ushering in of the holiday season.
Many people also use the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as an excuse to begin celebrating the holidays. Every Thanksgiving morning for nearly 100 years, Macy’s holds a huge parade in New York City that almost everyone has watched at some point. There’s massive balloons, floats, marching bands, and other extravagant displays of the upcoming season. At the end of the parade, however, comes the viewer’s sign of the impending holidays. Santa and Mrs. Claus reside on the final float of the parade, surrounded by elves, reindeer, and fake (sometimes real) snow. This has always been a sign to the children of America that the holidays begin on Thanksgiving.
However, much of the debate comes down to personal preference. While my family doesn’t decorate our home for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, our business is already decorated. Many people choose to take down their Halloween decorations on Nov. 1 and pull out the tree all on the same day, and many spread it out over the first few days of November. As I said before, some people even take down fall decorations before Halloween and put up their tree well before Oct. 31.
It seems that the majority of the Outlook staff and their families reside firmly in the camp of the rest of America. Lorelai Hilarczyk, Entertainment editor, had to say about her traditions; “As much as I’d like to celebrate Christmas right now… we don’t! Right now we’re in Thanksgiving mode until Black Friday. From Black Friday until the first week of January we’re in Christmas and holiday mode! I do listen to Christmas music now though because I’m a tad crazy.” Lorelai’s traditions mix with many other people that I know, including my own family, when decorations don’t go up until Thanksgiving, but the music starts playing as soon as the clock strikes midnight on Nov. 1.
Frank Hoarle, Sports editor, also shared his traditions; “I personally don’t start celebrating the holiday until after Thanksgiving, but I know my family is decorating our house as early as this week.” This is a unique scenario that I haven’t really seen before. I find that one of the reasons I celebrate Christmas so early is because of my fear of missing out, my FOMO, if you will. I find myself infected by the Christmas spirit as soon as I see anything related to the holiday, so I would personally never be able to put off my Christmas spirit if my family was already in the full swing of it.
While there probably will never be a set answer on when the right time to begin celebrating the holidays is, it’s unquestionable that this time of year is infectious to everyone. No matter when you put up your trees and wreaths, this truly is the happiest time of the year, and almost no one can deny that.
