When the door closes and the last piece of candy is given out on Halloween night. Christmas begins for a lot of Americans, but is that too early?
Ever since the 1990s-2000s, Americans have started decorating their homes for Christmas in early November. This could be traced to many reasons such as retail sales or the desire for a longer holiday season.
This jump from Halloween to Christmas leaves Thanksgiving in the dust. Besides the two aforementioned reasons, Christmas is also the preferred holiday. Not only does it come with cozy weather and gifts, but it also comes with a meal similar to Thanksgiving.
The main reason for this jump boils down to the fact that Christmas has more decorations. Not many people go all out when it comes to Thanksgiving decorations; they typically just put out fall decorations with a few extra turkeys. On the other hand, Christmas is decorated to the extremes with lights, trees, gifts and bows.
Which of course takes longer to set up, with the average American spending five to six hours decorating. Why do we as a society have to decorate and celebrate before Thanksgiving? We should be decorating the day after or the week of Thanksgiving.
If you decorate the day after Thanksgiving, it leaves about 30 days until Christmas. If you start preparing and decorating the week of Thanksgiving, you’ll be done decorating in time for December.
Another reason we should wait to decorate is that it ruins the vibe of Thanksgiving dinner. Imagine you work all day on cooking a meal you’ve waited all month for, you say what you’re thankful for and you look up to see a Christmas tree. It takes you out of the moment and puts you in a winter wonderland, rather than a meal you’re thankful for with your family. Sophomore Sadie Woodard agrees, saying, “I think [you should decorate] after Thanksgiving, because you need to give Thanksgiving justice.”
Thanksgiving is an important holiday as it celebrates the founding of America. It is a day of peace and thank you, and it wouldn’t feel like the holiday season without it. It should get its time as a holiday.
Even if Christmas is more popular than Thanksgiving, we all should take the time and wait to decorate for Christmas.
