By Amanda Semerjian || Contributing Writer
Every year, Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier. It’s as though before Halloween is even over, I walk into the grocery store and hear all the Christmas classics playing over the speaker systems, turn the TV on to see commercials for Christmas sales, and walk into the mall only to see that decorations are already up. Now, I love Christmas as much as anyone, maybe even too much, but I believe there is a time and a place for everything, and in this case, that time is most definitely after Thanksgiving. I feel as though celebrating and enjoying Christmas two months before the holiday takes away from the magic of it—Christmas time is definitely the most wonderful time of the year as the saying goes. Not only is it personally annoying to hear nothing but Christmas music nonstop wherever I go, but I also feel as though there is something else we neglect to notice about this premature celebrating. Christmas is not the only holiday that occurs in the month of December. If I am bothered by it, I can only imagine how genuinely annoying it must be for people who do not celebrate Christmas to have the holiday surround them for two months wherever they go. The joy that can be felt during this time is universal, but the fact that Christmas is not a holiday associated with every religion means that we who celebrate it should be respectful and ensure that others do not feel as though Christmas is being forced on them unwillingly.
This only furthers my point in that the second the weather drops below sixty degrees, we should not immediately jump to put up the Christmas lights. Now, I realize that in claiming that it is annoying to celebrate Christmas too early, I may seem like a Grinch, I would like to argue that I am actually the opposite. I love Christmas, and I love the holiday season, as it truly is a magical time filled with family, friends, and fun celebrations that bring people together in the best way. The best movies come out at Christmas, and I am known to sing my absolute heart out whenever I hear the first note of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” on the radio. With my love for the Christmas season in mind, let us recognize a key phrase: Christmas Season. It feels as though we exhaust the holiday and only focus on the material aspects, rather than the happiness that it is meant to bring to people all around the world. Having Christmas thrown at me as early as the end of September ruins it in a way, because personally, my favorite time of the year is Christmas time. I hope I am not the only one who feels this way and that my love for Christmas and the desire I feel to keep it from becoming exhausted before the day it even arrives is one that others can relate to as well.
Jumior Amanda Semerjian is a Contributing Writer. Her email is asemerji@fandm.edu.