Christmas is for December, Happy Thanksgiving

Christmas decorations are afoot at Dickinson, yet Thanksgiving hasn’t even passed. The turkeys are still gobbling but Jingle Bell Rock can already be heard in the halls. This can’t be right, even if the song reminds me of one of my favorite movies. Each holiday has its own time. You can’t decorate for Halloween too early, because your jack-o-lantern will rot. Pumpkins last around three weeks, though we’ve been seeing a crisis of “Christmas creep,” where the Christmas season has been moving up ever so subtly.

Recently, it has moved beyond Thanksgiving. This can’t stand. Every holiday must come in its own order. Halloween comes before Thanksgiving, which comes before Christmas, which comes before Valentine’s day. It would be considered odd to celebrate Thanksgiving in October, or Independence Day in June, so why do we begin to celebrate Christmas in November? There are some festivals which are extended over multiple days, but most people don’t get several days for their birthday.

At least in Carlisle, it hasn’t even snowed yet, though there is something about Christmas that triggers feelings of snow, sledding, and a warm fire. Maybe that one is Bing Crosby’s fault. There is something about Halloween and Thanksgiving that elicits feelings of turning leaves, and a slight crispness in the air. It is mindboggling that Christmas, and all of its wintery scenery, could be celebrated before a fall holiday. Christmas has jumped in front of other holidays.

There is a time and place for everything. The time for Christmas though, is not now. I feel like there is a special part of the Christmas magic that is lost when the season begins too early.

Each holiday has its own character, and each needs its own time to show it. The issue is that, when it is drawn out over so many months, the magic is ruined. The turkey needs it’s time to gobble, and the jack-o-lantern needs it’s time to smile. The “Christmas Creep” means that, when we should be thinking about how much we are looking forwards to a good helping of stuffing and turnip, we are instead thinking of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. Christmas is a heartwarming time of the year, but if too much of the year is centered around that one day, it loses its gusto. It becomes diluted by the sheer number of days we set aside for it, and reduce its power as a result.

Perhaps on Black Friday, after everyone has entered their turkey comas can the Christmas season begin, but starting this just after Halloween seems excessive. Maybe it is a pitch by stores to help sell more merchandise, but if it is, I don’t agree. There must only be one holiday going on at a time. Each one deserves to have its time in the spotlight, and Christmas has so far been stealing time from Thanksgiving. How soon will it be before Halloween is coopted into the growing Christmas season?

Christmas is the main holiday of December, and it is time to return it to that, a December holiday. November is for Thanksgiving, and October has Halloween. January has Presidents’ day. February has Valentine’s day. Saint Patrick’s day is in March, and April has Easter. May and June have Mother’s and Father’s day. July has Independence day. September has Labor day, and August is somehow lacking. Perhaps, if Christmas really needs more than one month, it can have August, but otherwise, we need to keep Christmas from encroaching upon other holidays.