As you read the title of this article, I’m guessing you saw the word “Christmas” and immediately started to picture a warmly lit Christmas tree, freshly baked cookies, gingerbread houses topped with icing and gumdrops and neatly wrapped gifts. Mariah Carey has made her annual reappearance on the radio and you’re ready to turn on a classic Christmas movie.
The awkward stretch of time between Halloween and Thanksgiving is bringing with it the impending doom of finals and daylight savings. Who wouldn’t want to cheer up with some festive music? After all, it’s only…mid-November?
Thanksgiving has yet to make its debut in the lineup of holidays for the year, and yet the Target shelves flipped from spooky to holly and jolly quite literally overnight. In fact, some were flipped even before Halloween. As a Christmas enjoyer myself, I have found the early camaraderie surrounding the Christmas season a bit excessive, especially when the turkey hasn’t even been brined.
My family has always followed hard and fast rules regarding the Christmas season and the lead-up to Thanksgiving. First of all, we would (and still do) decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. This way, if we were out of town for Thanksgiving, we could come home to a house already decorated. If it was our turn to host, we had a festive-looking home. However, we refuse to turn on any Christmas lights, especially the ones on our house and on the tree, until Thanksgiving night.
The turkey must have had time to digest and the pie must have been cut before the outside of our house displays the Christmas spirit. I think it is a little silly to have Christmas lights on any time before then. After all, we haven’t even seen Santa at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The same can be said for Christmas music and movies. Once the dishes have been cleared from the table (and you have enjoyed the airing of the SNL Thanksgiving special and watched “A Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving”), then can your media be subbed out for “Elf,” “The Polar Express” and other Christmas classics? Burl Ives and the Beatles (in their singular forms) can resurface amongst the streaming platforms and car radios only, once the Thanksgiving dishes have been cleared. If you are someone who enjoys a good seasonal song, might I suggest Adam Sandler’s “The Thanksgiving Song” or perhaps the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving soundtrack?
While Thanksgiving may be lacking in the music department, there is no reason to look past this time of gathering with our loved ones and giving thanks for the year we have had and the year ahead of us. Even if you aren’t a fan of the food, taking the time to celebrate life’s blessings with those who mean the most to us is important and deserves the time and recognition before the Christmas season commences.