Christmas time is indeed the most wonderful time of the year, in my opinion. For months now I’ve been wondering with Faith Hill, “Where are you, Christmas? Why can’t I find you?”
But it isn’t Christmas time yet. I don’t mean to be a Grinch, but please, one holiday at a time.
We’ve finally reached November and it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go. Take a look in the mall, the coffee shop and the bookstore.
They’re already decking the halls with boughs of plastic holly, and do you hear what I hear? Yep, 96.1 The River is playing Christmas music in Barnes and Noble on campus.
Early holiday merchandising drives me crazy. I won’t overgeneralize — there may be a few business owners who, like kids who can’t wait until Christmas to open presents, can’t wait to decorate and play Christmas music because of their impatient enthusiasm.
What makes me mad is that I know for many businesses, it’s all about the money. The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales this year to amount to $602.1 billion.
Retailers need to stop greedily commercializing Christmas.
But besides that, it simply isn’t time yet.
I’m in awe of the power sensory elements have — especially music — to bring us back to a certain time.
“It’s Christmas Time” performed by The Carpenters was my favorite Christmas song when I was about five years old. When I hear that song now, I remember the fireplace made of different-shaped stones at my old house, decorating the tree with my cousin and asking my dad to tell me stories.
The sights, smells and sounds of Christmas take us back to our Christmas memories.
I want those things to always remind me of Christmas, not November. They don’t mean as much when we experience them outside of Christmas time.
On a less sentimental note, there are only so many Christmas songs. Radio stations basically play the same few tunes and add a new version to the mix every so often. At the rate they are going, they will wear them all out before December.
I can only listen to “The Twelve Days of Christmas” so many times. What sane person gives his or her lover 23 various types of birds, not to mention eleven pipers piping, anyway?
I have a hard time enjoying “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” because I zone out and start pondering the age-old question: what is figgy pudding? It must be pretty amazing if the carolers won’t go until they get some.
How did “Jingle Bells” become so popular? I’m convinced it was written solely for a level one, lesson one piano book.
According to a recent Cricket Wireless national survey, 55 percent of Americans find it unacceptable to play Christmas music before Thanksgiving.
I wholeheartedly agree. Let’s give the turkey his day.
Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together and give thanks for their many blessings.
With Christmas coming earlier and earlier, Thanksgiving starts to get lost in the shuffle.
For Christmas lovers, waiting is hard. I’m very much looking forward to watching “White Christmas” — also known as the best holiday movie ever made — and I can almost hear Michael Buble’s angelic, smooth-as-butter voice crooning “Silent Night.”
But not yet. The Christmas season truly begins in just a couple more weeks. I must resist until then.
Opinion: People should wait to start celebrating Christmas
November 14, 2013