When does the Christmas season begin, exactly? That's a bit of a tough question to answer, due largely to what I like to call the "Christmas creep." Christmas creep is the amount of time every year (or period of years) that the season is extended into fall by the mass media. To demonstrate: when I was younger, about 9 years old or so, radio stations used to play Christmas music for about 48 hours, starting early on Christmas Eve and ending at midnight after Christmas Day. Then, when I was 14, one station started playing Christmas music 24 hours a day for an entire week before Christmas. Then, the next year, a different station started playing it 24/7 the day after Thanksgiving. This year, that same radio station started playing Christmas music nonstop on Veterans' Day. See how it works?
While I know that there can't really be a set date for the Christmas season to start, I wish people would start using their heads about this kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Grinch; I love Christmas as much as the next guy (or possibly more, if the next guy is in fact a Grinch), I just think the start of the season is being pushed to its limits. It seemed even more widespread this year than it has in years past, with many people admitting via Facebook status updates that they were getting into the spirit early this year. Again, there's nothing really wrong with that, I just don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to be chopping down trees and singing Christmas carols before Thanksgiving even comes.
It's an upside down tree. You know, to symbolize the error
of starting the season too early. It works, right? Right?
of starting the season too early. It works, right? Right?
To me, the arrival of Santa Claus at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is clearance for the season to officially begin. Even then, there's still Thanksgiving dinner to be had before you rush into all the Christmas festivities, but at least Santa has given you his blessing by that time. When you start getting all Christmas-y before you've even reached the halfway point of November, I think your priorities are a little out of whack. I mentioned how early the season was starting a while ago, and it was pointed out to me that it will never start before Halloween, because Halloween is such a big deal these days as well. That's true enough, but if you go to any major retail outlet the day after Halloween, the Christmas decorations are coming out. I know Thanksgiving isn't a big consumer holiday, and I suppose that's where the heart of it all lies, but it is still a national holiday, and I think we should abstain from Christmas related activities (barring shopping) until after it passes.
Alas, the Christmas creep just keeps on creeping, and since the media is such a powerful force in our lives, it's hard not to jump right in the first time we hear "Happy Holidays" by Andy Williams (I realize this isn't the most traditional of Christmas songs, but I play it every year to kick off the season, if only because I think the phrase "hoop dee doo and dickery dock" is hilarious). Personally, I'll hold off on the festivities until Black Friday. It only makes sense; Black Friday is the official start of the Christmas shopping season, and it's the day after the last major holiday before Christmas. If you do it that way, you don't encroach on any other holidays' turf, and you still get about a month's worth of Christmas cheer. Plus, you save me the annoyance of having to listen to Christmas music before I'm in the mood for it. It is, as Michael Scott would say, a win-win-win situation.
So there's your pet peeve for the week, the first of many to come, and in the future they'll arguably be much more vehement than this. Starting Christmas early does annoy me, but not nearly so much as a myriad of other things in pop culture, but since it's Black Friday, this seemed like a good time to showcase my views on the subject. Incidentally, since it is Black Friday, and the Christmas season has officially started, I will leave you with a treat:
-Billy
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