By Jane Bowden
Managing Editor
I’m a big fan of celebrating every holiday to the maximum. From decorating my house with red hearts and pictures of Cupid for Valentine’s Day to wearing a Halloween costume to my classes, holidays are the perfect excuse to dress up my life and make my everyday routine a bit more exciting.
However, no matter how many holidays I decorate or dress up for, there’s one thing I refuse to do — I will never celebrate Christmas before Thanksgiving.
Between Starbucks launching their festive cups to radio stations blasting every singer’s holiday cover on repeat, it seems like society has confused “12 Days of Christmas” with 12 weeks of Christmas. Seriously. Since when did people start celebrating the holiday while dressed in their Halloween costume?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for jamming out to the king and queen of Christmas — Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey — nonstop, wearing the ugliest holiday sweater my local Goodwill has in store and getting sick from eating too many gingerbread cookies. In fact, you’ll sure as heck find me wearing my matching holiday pajama set and elf slippers while watching a classic stop-motion Christmas film — but only after I’ve enjoyed a warm Thanksgiving meal with my family members.
Is it wrong for me to say that I do not want to rock around the Christmas tree while I’m eating pumpkin pie? That I’ll have a blue Thanksgiving rather than a blue Christmas if I hear Taylor Swift’s cover of “Last Christmas” on the radio?
In fact, I think Thanksgiving might even be better than Christmas, and before the people who wear holiday socks on Halloween attack me with sharpened candy canes, let me explain. You don’t have the stress of buying everyone a thoughtful gift, there are still a handful of yellow and red leaves on the ground, and you get to sit around your living room eating nothing but mashed potatoes, stuffing and cornbread. That sounds like carbohydrate heaven to me.
Thanksgiving is also a day to spend time with your friends and family, as well as be thankful for everyone and everything you have in your life. By skipping the holiday and celebrating Christmas as soon as the calendar changes to Nov. 1, you’re kind of saying, “Screw all of the blessings I have in my life. Give me the Hallmark Channel’s cheesiest films or give me nothing.”
By the time it’s Dec. 25, I’m so sick of listening to Christmas sing-a-longs that I, too, want to stand alongside Grandma and get run over by a reindeer. All I want for Christmas is for everyone to stop celebrating the holiday too early.
But hey, if Christmas is the only time of year that brings you joy, then I guess I’ll give it to you. Will I sing Christmas carols with you? Probably not. But I will let you celebrate it before Thanksgiving if you really, really want to.
All I ask is that you don’t leave your Christmas lights up well beyond New Year’s Day and stomp on Valentine’s Day’s parade.
