‘Tis not the season to be jolly. Here we are in the early days of November, where the beautiful leaves are falling and the temperature is not hellish, yet we cannot sit and enjoy this time of year. Christmas has already invaded, and some people are already in the Christmas spirit. For shame. It is bad enough that Halloween barely gets a spooky season because of other holidays, but Christmas definitely overshadows Thanksgiving every year. The Christmas season should not start until December. We should at least take time to be grateful before we almost kill each other in greedy, Black Friday rampages, but even that madness has spread to before Thanksgiving Thursday. Did the turkeys just die in vain since you all are skipping turkey day?
According to Britt Kennedy with Florida Today, “The push for early-early holiday shopping is not all on the retailers, though of course they’re not dangling electrified elves in front of us for altruistic reasons. They’re monitoring what customers want, and reciprocating. That’s what they do.”
Many people are torn on this question of when stores should put out Christmas items. Personally, I believe stores should not put out Christmas décor before Thanksgiving, even though they seem to begin this process before the Fourth of July sometimes. Luckily, at least some people agree with me. According to Daniel Arkin with NBC News, Target listened to people with opinions like mine in 2017.
Arkin writes, “The retail giant [Target], in response to feedback from customers, will ease up on Christmas signs and displays at the front entrances of their stores until after Thanksgiving.”
Hopefully, this will happen again because too many stores, such as Target, go way too overboard with pushing for Christmas. I understand we are nearing a profitable time for businesses, but pushing for early Christmas tree fire hazards is annoying. One interesting take on waiting to decorate for Christmas is the anticipation created for this holiday when we take our time to enjoy its festivities. 
Travis M. Andrews and Katherine Owen with Southern Living Magazine write, “Because Christmas is the most perfect time of the year but it could not be so if we treat it as an any-day-in-October-or-November affair. So please, hold off a few more weeks. Christmas will be here in due time, but if we start now, we’ll be sick of the most joyous holiday before its proper time has come.”
I believe it is possible to get burnt out on a holiday. Some of you might think that you could never get tired of Christmas joy, but yes, you most definitely can. I know I sound like I sympathize with Scrooge or that I might even be the Grinch’s first cousin, but every holiday has its place on our calendar. I do not see Christmas printed on my calendar until December, and it should be that way for every holiday.
Before December, I refuse to participate in the early Christmas carols or putting up a tree before the turkey leftovers are gone. Of course, you all should also understand that I do not hate Christmas, and I do not want to steal joy from anyone this season. I am totally fine with being all “bah-humbug” beforehand, but whenever it is eventually December, you can bet your fruit cake I dust off my absurdly festive sweaters and reindeer socks and jam out to hymns while decorating cookies.