Let me preface the following by explaining that I love Christmas. I love the music, lights and time I get to spend with my family.
However, what I do not love is how early the Christmas season is apparently beginning this year. I visited the mall last Tuesday in search of last minute costume accessories, and lo and behold, a pile of large evergreen wreaths, some giant red bows and a red Santa chair sat near the entrance waiting to be organized into a holiday display. Keep in mind, last Tuesday was October 30 . . . the day before Halloween.
Granted, the Christmas display was still in pieces. The wreaths were stacked in a neat pile on the floor, and there was no mall Santa listening to small childrens' Christmas wishes. But it is clearly only a matter of time.
Target began airing its holiday-themed commercials at least two weeks ago. They aren't yet as pervasive as they will be, but the fact remains that Christmasy advertisements began while we were all on fall break watching "Hocus Pocus," "The Addams Family" and "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on ABC Family.
Speaking of ABC Family, the network began advertising its "Countdown to the 25 Days of Christmas" during the "13 Nights of Halloween" promotion. We can all agree that their yearly "25 Days of Christmas" holiday special marathon is a great way to get excited about the Christmas season. But is a holiday movie-themed countdown to a previously existing holiday countdown necessary?
Even our beloved campus bookstore has jumped on the holiday bandwagon, setting up lights and a tree two weeks before Thanksgiving. This is getting out of hand.
Pulling out the Christmas decorations before Halloween, a time when most of us are receiving care packages full of candy and worrying about what Disney character to channel at Finny's, is just absurd. There are still leaves on some of the trees, and it's still pumpkin pie season. Radio stations, thank goodness, have not yet started playing Christmas songs on repeat. Plus, as of last Tuesday, there were still two (two!) major holidays before Christmas. Halloween's over now, but Thanksgiving, an important national holiday, is still waiting in the wings.
Why is everyone jumping the gun and already setting up Christmas decorations? Let's show Thanksgiving and the pilgrims some love and wait until November 23 to pull out the wreaths, trees and candy canes.
But after that, let's go all out.
Contact Mackenzie Sain at msain@nd.edu
The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
