After the game Saturday, my friends and I were talking about one of the most hotly debated issues of this time of the year: whether or not it is acceptable to begin listening to Christmas music before celebrating Thanksgiving.
While it is fair that decorating for Christmas as soon as Halloween is over can be jumping the gun a bit, I feel that listening to Christmas music early is acceptable behavior.
First, we still celebrate Thanksgiving in other ways, such as with decorations put up during the month of November.
In my house, we dedicate Thanksgiving night to putting up our Christmas tree and listening to Christmas music as a way to kickstart the holiday season. However, we do not wait until then to begin enjoying Christmas music; that happens as soon as we would like. We still give Thanksgiving appreciation by decorating our home for Thanksgiving, and waiting to switch over to Christmas. This makes it easy to acknowledge both holidays at the same time.
Second, we are able to celebrate two holidays at the same time.
As my friends and I discussed this contest between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the common argument came up that by beginning our celebration of Christmas we are neglecting to celebrate Thanksgiving. The celebration of these holidays, however, is not mutually exclusive. We can celebrate Thanksgiving while still appreciating the uplifting Christmas music.
It is underestimating our intellectual ability to assume that we can only manage to celebrate one single holiday at a time. We manage to work on several different classes and assignments at any given time, so it makes sense that we would be able to celebrate two holidays at once as well.
Third, Thanksgiving does not have music like Christmas does.
If there were songs celebrating Thanksgiving, this might be another story. However, there are not an array of Thanksgiving songs in the same manner as Christmas music. Therefore, it does not do Thanksgiving a disservice to begin the commemoration of Christmas with the beginning of the month of November. Christmas songs are just a small way to get into the holiday spirit.
Fourth, we should listen to Christmas music while we have more time to enjoy it.
The month of December is incredibly busy and marked with papers, exams, finals, and last-minute holiday shopping. As an incredibly stressful time, it can be difficult to enjoy Christmas music to the full extent that it should be enjoyed. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to allow us to jam to “All I Want for Christmas Is You” during November, while we still have ample time to appreciate it.
Lastly, The Hallmark Channel has already begun showing their Christmas programming.
On Oct. 28, the Hallmark Channel began to play their Christmas movies, which will continue throughout the month of November and into December. If it is not too early to begin showing Christmas programming on air, it is not to early to start listening to Christmas music either.
Due to these reasons, I will be breaking out my Christmas playlist on Spotify and enjoying my favorite Christmas songs starting Nov. 1.
