Christmas cheer arrives too soon

Considering that Christmas is nearly a month away, it’s pretty sad that I’m getting sick of… Considering that Christmas is nearly a month away, it’s pretty sad that I’m getting sick of it already.

But I know the reason, anyway. It’s because the season starts, for all intents and purposes, right around Halloween. Carols start coming onto the radio near mid-November, stores and commercials start playing holiday-themed advertisements and displays long before Thanksgiving, and the lights on the trees at the William Pitt Union – you know, the ones that only go halfway up the trunk of the tree – were not only already up, but actually haven’t been taken down since last November.

Now before I start getting e-mails calling me the Grinch or Scrooge or any other cliched anti-holiday moniker, know that I have absolutely nothing against Christmas or whatever other holiday you choose to celebrate. I just think that there’s a proper time to begin celebrating.

I mean, nobody starts launching July 4 fireworks in early June, or attempts to celebrate their birthday for a solid month. Why should the end-of-year holidays be any different?

My view is that they shouldn’t be, or at least not substantially. I mean a little bit of holiday cheer is OK now and then. I’ve got nothing against wreaths and lights when it’s actually, you know, winter. But, when I still have to go out and rake the leaves falling off trees, it should not be time for caroling and eggnog.

Part of this stems from my dislike of the rampant commercialization that goes on this time of year, what with everyone buying everything they can and the stores raking in the cash only to run larger and more annoying ad campaigns to get us to buy more stuff.

It’s a shame that the winter holidays have basically been boiled down to a ravenous shopper mentality of “Consume! Consume!” The only holiday that makes me angrier than Christmas is Valentine’s Day, which only exists courtesy of the Hallmark Corporation.

But what I really dislike about the way the holidays get bumped further and further forward every year is the way that that makes them less special and meaningful. A holiday hardly means anything when it’s a month long.

The real shame of the season is when you’re literally inundated with holiday cheer for so long that it loses its meaning and starts becoming an annoyance.

Let me put it this way: Christmas has basically taken over Thanksgiving. This is more or less a fact of life. But when you’re actually subverting an entire holiday with decorations and advertising for another one, they both start to lose their meaning. My family didn’t even bother to put up fall decorations in the house this year, but just moved straight from Halloween stuff into Christmas. We ate Thanksgiving dinner with Christmas tree plates and a Santa Claus centerpiece.

Does this seem odd to anyone else? I mean, not only has Thanksgiving pretty much just become a dress rehearsal for Christmas dinner, but Christmas has become such an all-encompassing industry that it’s no longer just a holiday, but an entire season. It used to be that fall and winter were seasons.

Imagine if spring was the Easter season, and we were swarmed with chocolate rabbits and Easter egg hunts for two months. Yet, that’s exactly what Christmas has become. It’s no longer just a holiday but an entire time of year.

But like I said before, this makes the entire time of year less special. Think about it. When fall rolls around for example, for a little while everyone is excited about seeing the leaves change and preparing for the winter and so on. But eventually these feelings subside for a general annoyance toward cold rain showers and the sun setting at 5:30 p.m.

I think that Christmas is no different: At first, it’s exciting to see all the decorations and hum carols at work, but after three weeks you’re ready to stab someone when “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” comes on the radio for the eighth time that day.

So my idea is for everyone to just calm down a bit. Christmas and the other holidays are going to get here eventually, whether we like it or not. There’s no rush, especially considering the fact that thinking about it more does not make it actually get here any sooner.

So why don’t we all just take a big, deep breath and enjoy the year without having to anticipate what’s coming next? And then when the holidays actually get here, or at least get close, we can all savor the time that they’re around instead of trying to force them to come sooner.

And someone please take Rudolph off the stupid radio.

If you noticed that the Christmas lights at the Union never came down this year too, e-mail Richard at rab53@pitt.edu and tell him about it.