There is still over a week until Thanksgiving, but most retailers have already laid out their stock of Christmas decor. “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey is already in the top 100 on the iTunes singles chart. Nov. 12 the University’s Union Theater hosted a performance of “Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker.” Signs of Christmas are already present everywhere you look, and I love it.
I am the person who turns up the Christmas carols and hangs up my decorations on Nov. 1, and I have no shame admitting that. However, take one look at social media and you will find there are plenty of people who disagree with me. A Facebook post of a turkey with the caption “back off Santa, this is my month” has been shared 200,000 times.
It is clear that many people hate when others choose to start celebrating Christmas in November, but I don’t understand why. There is nothing wrong with starting the Christmas season in November. If Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, why wouldn’t you want to celebrate it for as long as possible?
Some people say starting the Christmas season in November erases the presence of the Thanksgiving holiday, but, even with an increasing number of people celebrating Christmas early, this is simply not the case. Thanksgiving is still as popular as ever. In 2015, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade averaged 22.3 million viewers. 32.5 million people watched NFL football and, according to The Harris Poll, 70 percent of Americans still believed Thanksgiving should be spent with family.
Thanksgiving just does not have the same allure as Christmas. There are not many universally loved Thanksgiving movies, songs and events, and that is OK. Thanksgiving is meant to be a holiday dedicated to giving thanks and appreciating family and friends, and come Nov. 23 that is what most Americans will still do, regardless of if they have already started celebrating Christmas or not. Having a Christmas tree in the next room does not somehow inhibit our ability to give thanks.
If you do not want to celebrate Christmas in November, don’t. Nobody is going to hold a gun to your head and force you to put up a tree and sing Christmas carols if you do not want to. If starting the Christmas season in November makes people happy, don’t be a Grinch. Let them be happy.
Anna Coleman is a 19-year-old mass communication junior from Kennesaw, Georgia.