When October ends, themes go from pumpkins, ghouls and spooks to red, white and green color schemes featuring Santa Claus, snowmen and retailers playing Christmas music for nearly two months or longer.
While getting into the holiday spirit is good and all, once November starts, it still feels too early to even think about Christmas.
Now granted, Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States during November and in Canada in October, so it isn’t a global thing, but here in the states, the “Christmas creep” phenomenon has existed for a lot longer than some would realize.
According to an article from CNN, stores have been pushing up installation dates of holiday decorations. Some stores put Christmas decorations up around the same time Halloween decorations are on the shelf and it’s considered to be more of a priority than back-to-school sales.
While some retailers may sell decorations for certain holidays months before, to be fair, those would likely be for people who want to buy decorations in advance for preparation. However, it’s overbearing when retailers and other businesses start putting up Christmas decorations as soon as November starts.
For example, there could be Halloween decorations for sale as early as summertime or seeing Valentine’s Day cards, candy and decorations being up for sale the day after Christmas. There is nothing wrong with preparing in advance, but are we skipping certain holidays?
What makes this sad is that while Christmas is said to be a time to celebrate with loved ones, so much of the focus is on capitalism, making the holidays more stressful than they need to be. It took over the holidays a long time ago and people are fixated on getting their shopping done early, instead of spending quality time with each other or enjoying the downtime.
It seems like the earlier the holidays start, the more fatigued people get about them. Memes all over social media, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter), depict Mariah Carey thawing from her year-long freeze and the overabundance of “All I Want for Christmas is You” being played in circulation at retailers or on radio stations takes over the air-waves.
Many people also start putting up Christmas decorations in front of their houses when November starts, not seeming to take into account that Christmas is in December. It’s not bad to get into the spirit early, but for some people, it could get old by the time Christmas rolls around.
It doesn’t help that Thanksgiving gets the short end of the stick when talking about end-of-the-year holidays. It often goes like this: Halloween, then Christmas, to the brief “oh, November is Thanksgiving”, as people struggle to gather before going back to Christmas festivities when Black Friday kicks off the Christmas season.
Black Friday is often seen as the start of the Christmas season because ads advertise discounts for popular products, such as toys, video games and clothing. On any other day, such prices for said items would be more expensive.
The Hallmark network airs Christmas movies as early as July when it’s hot and Lifetime follows suit in October or November starts, according to an E! Online article.
Getting into the holiday spirit is fine, but for many people, the decorations and music can help with that. Even in October or in early-November, it still feels too early to think about Christmas. It’s so early that by the time Christmas rolls around, you won’t want to celebrate it.
