We need to keep Christmas in December

We need to keep Christmas in December

It seems like every year the socially acceptable time to start celebrating Christmas gets earlier.

In my childhood, there was no talk of Christmas until Thanksgiving had already happened. Now it feels like Santa is standing next to a Jack o lantern at most stores.

Back in the day, December was all about Christmas. Now people start dreaming of a white Christmas in October. Why? Just…why?

I understand the anticipation and excitement that people have for giving and receiving gifts. I understand how we want to extend the good feels that the season tends to bring.

But we need to stop making Christmas earlier each year.

Once upon a time, folks used to try to cheat the system with having so-called ‘Christmas in July.’ It was a thing, but it didn’t take over our lives. It was intended to be rather ironic. Like let’s dress Santa in a Hawaiian shirt and try to sell a few extra items on QVC. It was all over by August, and we still had almost four months before we needed to think about Christmas again.

Now, people are bringing out their Christmas decorations, and it isn’t even time to carve the turkey. Let’s take a long, hard look at ourselves. What have we become?

Christmas used to be exciting because you had a little more than a month to begin the festivities. It always felt like Christmas was so short and so far away, but it was all worth it.

Now, as a new generation of adults are coming into maturity, the rules and conventions around the celebration of Christmas are being challenged in a major way. I’m for challenging rules and conventions, but I wonder if we’re making a huge mistake here.

Christmas is exciting because of the build up to it. It’s trying to guess the presents under the tree. It’s singing certain songs in church. It’s the kindness and general good will that is expressed.

As we move our celebration of the season earlier on the calendar we’re actually taking away from what makes the season so fun.

How can Christmas be exciting when the celebration lasts four months?

In recent years, I’ve been tired of Christmas before it’s anywhere close to happening. That just shouldn’t be.

We need to exercise more self control. There’s a reason why our parents didn’t let us open our presents the moment they appeared under the tree. There’s a reason why Santa only showed up once and why our stockings were only filled on that one night.

We need push back when retailers start stocking candy canes in September. 

We need to complain when over the air radio stations switch to playing Christmas songs almost exclusively at the beginning of November.

We need to resist the urge to buy and put up decorations before Thanksgiving. 

We need to fight the Early Christmas Machine, lest we find ourselves shooting off fireworks with “Deck the Halls”playing in the background. 

I know that I’m not the only one who shares these sentiments. Maybe if we band together, we can win the the fight to keep Christmas in December.