The Nightmare Before Thanksgiving

In recent years, the separation between Halloween and the start of Christmas decorating has been dwindling. This may be contributed to a few different factors; Economic fluctuation and need for holiday hire, a decrease in Thanksgiving festivities, and a certain Tim Burton movie, The Nightmare before Christmas.  

In the Nightmare before Christmas, Jack Skellington and Halloween town try to take over Christmas. The movie almost encourages the hasty jump from Halloween to the start of everything Christmas.  Christmas has come to overshadow and even take away from Thanksgiving and the second half of fall. 

Winter and the Holiday season is Wonderful, and I love Christmas just as much as everyone else, but there is no need to start stocking Christmas decorations and toys in stores as early as November 1st or 2nd. Nor is it necessary to start decorating, or shopping for Christmas or listening to Christmas until at least after Thanksgiving.  

As a result of global warming, Autumn has been growing shorter every year, so why would you want to make it even shorter? When everyone starts going Christmas crazy, you lose all the experiences and opportunities, only November brings.  

Thanksgiving is an Autumn Holiday, not a winter one, yet nowadays Thanksgiving is sometimes only seen as an extension of Christmas. Even the Thanksgiving Parade, despite its name is seen more as a kick off for the Christmas countdown and less a celebration of Thanksgiving.  

In the last decade Radio stations have started playing Christmas Music earlier and earlier this year. This year 104.5 switched over to be a Christmas station as early as November 5th. While it is nice to drag out Christmas Music and listen to it as long as you can, because as I before mentioned, Christmas is Amazing and loved by many and it always feels like it takes forever to arrive and takes no delays in leaving. However, Christmas music should not be played on or before Thanksgiving.  

Listening to Christmas music prematurely will not only interfere with one’s Thanksgiving festivities but in addition will create a sense of withdrawal from Christmas or snow, etc. Waiting longer than needed for Christmas and potentially driving yourself crazy in the process.  

While the ideal time to start listening to Christmas is the beginning of December, as long as Thanksgiving has passed it is acceptable to engage in some holiday cheer.