Plug in the multi-colored lights, crank up the Bing Crosby and dig those ugly sweaters out of the back of your closet. It’s Christmas, y’all.
I know, I know. There’s still Thanksgiving to be observed. But here’s the thing: Thanksgiving is a pointless holiday. Don’t get me wrong, I love stuffing my face and taking midday naps as much as anyone else, but I don’t think the Christmas spirit should be postponed for it.
Setting aside all the implications of a holiday that celebrates the extremely sketchy way in which this country was settled, let’s be honest about what Thanksgiving really is: Pre-Christmas. Deep down, we all know that Thanksgiving is just pregaming for Christmas, so why should I pretend like it’s anything else? And why should a holiday that doesn’t even have any themed music or decorations get its own month when Christmas is right around the corner?
By the time November rolls around, I’ve been shotgunning pumpkin spice lattes for a whole month and I’m already sick of harvest flavors. Let me tell you, yesterday I went to Trader Joe’s, walked straight past the boxes of pumpkin pancake and bread mixes and bought a basket full of mint chocolate deliciousness. Pumpkin, squash, nutmeg, et cetera. I’m bored. As soon as Halloween is over, bring on the candy canes and peppermint mochas.
So I don’t want to sit around eating pumpkin pie. I don’t want to celebrate Thanksgiving. I want to celebrate Pre-Christmas.
Let’s make Pre-Christmas a day for eating red and green sugar cookies and drinking hot chocolate until we pass out, a day for expressing our thankfulness toward each other not because of some murdering pilgrims but because it’s a season of giving. Pre-Christmas morning could even include watching a parade featuring a Santa float and gigantic Christmas-themed balloons, and the afternoon could be all about sifting through circulars to plan out our Christmas shopping — oh wait, that sounds familiar.
I’m not anxious for Christmas because I want to tear into my gifts early, or because I’m ansty to attack some sales. Christmas is the best time of the year because it’s about love.
For me, it’s about telling stories with my family and picking out gifts for people I care about. It’s about curling up under tons of blankets with somebody special and, yeah, maybe slipping a bit of Amaretto into my egg nog. It’s a time for happiness and things you loved when you were a kid. It’s the season that once made us all believe in magic.
Why would I want to wait for that?
Kaci Yoder is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Baton Rouge.