Written by Kalista Roades
Once Halloween is over, everybody starts getting into a lot of arguments that don’t get anywhere. Every year, we have these arguments, and no one’s mind is changed. Let me give some examples, but don’t come for me when I say “Die Hard” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” are not Christmas movies, and Christmas music and trees and twinkle lights are appropriate starting on Nov. 1. All that being said, I’m still here to make my case and keep the arguments going anyway, because at this point, is it really Christmas unless you’ve argued about how soon you can play Christmas music?
I always start my Christmas season in early November. The exact date varies based on my homework load, but usually by the first week I’ve listened to Christmas music at least once. By the third week, I’ll have my tree up in my room, and I’ll be doing homework by twinkle lights. Come December, I have at least one or two Christmas movie nights a week, and Christmas music is on for every drive. This is also when the ugly Christmas sweaters come back from hibernation.
I know lots of people like to argue that this diminishes Thanksgiving, but let’s be honest — Thanksgiving is a holiday with a dubious history that now just consists of a two-hour parade and a meal of usually only OK food (unless you have a chef in the family). It’s not a good enough holiday to get all of November. Besides, twinkle lights on roofs are just festive — they don’t necessarily scream Christmas, especially if they’re the classic white lights. Yes, some of the Christmas songs get old after a while (looking at you, Mariah Carey), but you can always purposefully space out when you listen to them so they don’t get tiresome too quickly. And there’s maybe one Thanksgiving movie worth watching (Charlie Brown, of course), but there are countless Christmas movies — we need more than just December to watch them all.
Now this isn’t to say that I’m against the folks that wait for Christmas celebrations until after Thanksgiving. I won’t go blaring Christmas music in the dorm, and I won’t wear an ugly Christmas sweater until December. If I have to, I’ll have my Christmas season in private and in secret, but I hope that’s not the case. One of the benefits of starting Christmastime this early is that I can celebrate with my Harding friends before going home for break. Theoretically there’s some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I plan on studying for finals for most of that time.
I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with starting Christmas early. For me, it’s a season of joy, giving and hope, and can’t we all use a little more of that as we finish out the semester? At the end of the day, if twinkle lights and feel-good movies make you happy, I say you should be able to have that whenever you want.
