By mid-November, stores across America had Christmas music playing and decorations on full display. Courtesy of DarkoStojanovic/Pixnio
By Dylan Hart
We’re finally approaching December. Congratulations, everyone: You survived another November with Christmas being shoved into your face at every opportunity.
Despite my “bah humbug” nature on this matter, I am hardly a Grinch or a Scrooge.
In fact, Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. You would be shocked at the amount of good music that is released for the season outside of the traditional “Christmas pop” genre.
But that’s precisely why starting the Christmas season so early is a real shame. It makes the period, which already adopts all of December, feel less genuine when people start celebrating at the start of November.
My main issue with the early start is that it feels like people are being forced to buy into a massive marketing scheme.
America is no stranger to consumerism.
It’s understandable that companies want to profit as much as possible; that’s the nature of capitalism — Black Friday exists expressly for that reason.
But I don’t believe that’s any reason to give into the marketing push. We have a unique opportunity, as consumers, to say that November is not the Christmas season.
Realistically, we can’t expect the public to forgo deals on game consoles and plasma TVs — after all, people are willing to risk their lives every year for some good deals on expensive products.
But we can push, at least a bit, to keep Thanksgiving as its own holiday. Families aren’t usually running off to theaters to catch the latest turkey-centered film, but you don’t get a lot of movies made for Labor Day or Arbor Day either.
Although I’m excited for the upcoming holiday, I am a bit less excited after having Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and every song from Michael Bublé’s discography drilled into my head in every store and every commercial for the last couple of weeks.
We may have to acknowledge that the holidays, in our society, are at least partially a way for corporations to get richer.
It’s possible that some people really do want the season to begin early. I’m not arguing against individual cheer, I just wish advertising wouldn’t beat the dead Christmas horse (reindeer?) so early and so violently.
I hope that you and your family have a great holiday this year. Next year, though, maybe you can join me in the “Christmas before Thanksgiving” resistance.
