Halloween has now come and gone; the ghoul and goblins have gone back in their holes, so now it is time to simply enjoy fall. Sweaters, hot chocolate, leaves changing colors, cool breezes, pumpkin pie, beanies, boots, and just generally being cozy. Then it all gets capped off and the end of November with Thanksgiving, and then we start to enjoy the holiday season. Or at least that’s how it is supposed to be. Last week, when it was still October, I saw a advertisement for toys. Lying on the dining room table is a magazine from Target filled with toys for holiday gifts. I understand the early start for practicing holiday music for winter concerts as well as crafts, because both take time and need that early start to be done right. But it is too soon for all this, it’s still the beginning of November. The Christmas season does not start until after the turkey has been cut, and you see Santa at the end of the Thanksgiving day parade. The lead up to Christmas should only be a month, not two and a half.
Do not take this the wrong way, I personally love Christmas. As soon as Black Friday hits, I’m listening to the punk rock version of Come all Ye Faithful and donning a Santa hat. It’s a wonderful time of year where people are especially nice, you see your family members who live far away, you get to eat candy canes. It’s very special. But that’s just it, it’s special. When marketing teams keep lengthening the Holiday season, it loses some of that spark. Usually it’s the more the merrier, but in this case it’s line stretching taffy too thin. The whole point is to sell more merchandise with wintery motifs, and lure more people in with holiday sales. Corporations have succeeded in making Christmas time less special by making it longer and cheapening the holiday spirit. But I’m taking my jolliness back and am not  going to listen to Christmas carols until the end of this month. Companies do not get to make the holidays a novelty to make a quick buck. The reindeer antlers stay in the closet for now. You should do this to to keep the holidays as memorable as possible. If we don’t, they might start selling us gingerbread cookies right after Labor Day. Where’s the meaning in that?