It’s that time of year again for the Christmas Creep to make itself evident in our society. The Christmas Creep, defined by Macmillan Dictionary, is the tendency for Christmas products, decorations and advertising to be displayed earlier each year. This phenomenon is becoming more popular with each coming year. One might think it would seem to be a good strategy for businesses to sell Christmas products earlier, but they are creating an epidemic that cannot be stopped.
It’s the beginning of October and Wal-Mart has a whole section of the store dedicated to an assortment of Christmas decor and festivities. There is an overwhelming feeling of Christmas joy while walking through the aisles and to be honest, it’s just a big tease. Christmas is two months away. You get a taste of Christmas joy but then comes disappointment because we still have other holidays to celebrate. There tends to be resentment toward the holidays that stand in the way of Christmas and they don’t deserve that treatment.
Christmas is great, but we should let other holidays be holidays too. Holidays are for our celebration and they want to be noticed too. Christmas is like the favorite child in the family that always gets the extra slice of pie. Sure, Christmas brings the happiness out of people and is a time to come together, but so are Thanksgiving and Columbus Day. Columbus Day could bring some pretty catchy music if we would allow it to come out of the shadow of Christmas. This is not the fault of Christmas, but the fault of our society. We jump the gun and get the Christmas tunes rolling in September. This is too early for Christmas spirit and we need to let the holiday rest. Our society allows Christmas to creep in September and let the holiday fade into February by not taking down Christmas lights.
The Harding Christmas lights are splendid and create a wonderful feeling around campus. Keeping the lights up year round would make people very happy but this act is encouraging the Christmas Creep. We are going to wear Christmas out by giving it too much attention at the wrong times. No holiday needs to have so much confidence. The worst thing to happen would be that people wouldn’t appreciate this holiday as the years go by.
The Christmas Creep is a lot like the idea of “Twilight.” When it first emerges, it seems like a good idea but then we are left with the question of “Why?” The Christmas Creep needs to come to an end, it’s not fair to holidays including Christmas. Christmas didn’t ask for this much attention. There is a right time for everything and we should love and embrace Christmas at the correct time.
