Christmas In October...

When is it to early to start celebrating the holidays?

The other night while watching t.v. I saw a commercial for a new holiday special airing on NBC. It is based on the Madagascar movies. It looked very cute, and I will probably watch. However, the one thing that I did notice that was a little odd, it will air November 17th, 38 days before Christmas. Over a week before Thanksgiving. Is that to soon?? I remember being confused as a kid watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Santa Claus would be there. Whey was Santa in a parade for Thanksgiving? I asked my parents and was told that Santa was in the parade because it was the start of the Christmas season. That made complete sense to me. However as I have gotten older, it seems that Christmas and the holidays seem to start earlier and earlier. Now in some cases as early as October. Months before Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even Halloween. I was in Cracker Barrel the other day, and in the gift shop, noticed three separate corners in the store. One decorated for Halloween, another for Thanksgiving, and then one for Christmas. All three in one room at the same time.

I have heard people talking who feel that the holidays start to soon in stores, restaurants, t.v., etc. I remember working at Books A Million a few years ago, and the day after Halloween, November 1st we began playing Christmas music in the store and it would continue until New Year's - 2 months later. I love Christmas music and it didn't bother me, but other coworkers were upset and grew tired of the same thing day after day, long before the actual holiday. They said that by Christmas it was hard to enjoy it, because it had been going on all around them in one way or another for months already.

For me personally, I LOVE Christmas and the holidays. I enjoy spending time with family and friends. Putting up the tree, and wrapping presents. I look forward to watching movies like Christmas Vacation, It's A Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Story (for 24 hours on TBS). I love Christmas music and am guilty of occasionally listening to a holiday song all throughout the year. In my family we have always made Birthday's a fun occasion, and celebrate our birthday week, instead of just one day. So for me, I enjoy the holiday season and prefer to celebrate more than just December 24th and 25th.

So while the early holiday programs on t.v. and the holiday carols playing in stores in November don't bother me, to others I think that it is too much. Now, if we start putting up holiday decorations in stores in June or July, I'll reconsider, but for now, I'm ok. What about you???