It’s Not the Christmas Season Yet

Television commercials are already featuring Santa Claus, saying “this holiday season” and having jingle music in the background.  A small shopping center in my neighborhood is having a Christmas themed event today.  A radio station in my market started playing wall-to-wall Christmas music over a week ago.  Yet all of this is out of season.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are separate holidays.

            At my house, the only place I have control over, there will be no Christmas decorations until the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  Why Tuesday?  Because this allows for one day after the Thanksgiving weekend on which neither Thanksgiving nor Christmas is observed.  Even if my wife and I begin decorating Tuesday, it may take a few days until we get all the decorations up.

            I remember being at a devotional well outside of the Christmas season in which the leader led us in a song related to the birth of Christ.  I am actually fine with this because it was based on his sincerely held religious beliefs.  He said the event is just as important at that time of the year as it is at or near Christmas.  What bothers me about stores having Christmas decorations in early November or even October is that they may be doing it for the wrong reason.  Do they deck their halls because they care about the holiday or is it to remind people that Christmas is coming, and they need to start shopping?

            When advertisers do mention Christmas, they say “holiday” when the really mean “Christmas.”  I wish people, when they mention a holiday, that they would say what holiday they are talking about.  I mentioned in a previous blog post that “happy holidays” can refer to any holiday at any time of the year.  I know that not everybody celebrates Christmas, but there are also people who do not celebrate a holiday season at that time of the year at all.

            At our home, we still have our autumn and Thanksgiving decorations up.  We will definitely have Halloween decorations next year and may even decorate for Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Independence Day (aka “the Fourth of July”).  By the way, happy Veterans Day especially to all veterans who read this.