OPINION BY ELLEN CONVERSE
If you were like me, you were eagerly looking forward to Halloween. The costumes, the candy, and all the fun activities that go along with it sure provide for a memorable weekend. After such a fun holiday and weekend, it’s easy to feel let down, so it’s easy to see why so many people are excited to start preparing for the next holiday.
That being said, the next holiday is NOT Christmas and we should not be pretending that it is. I am against playing Christmas music before the end of November for many reasons.
Now, I understand the need to take down your jack-o-lanterns and monster decorations. But that doesn’t mean that we need to jump into decking the halls and blasting “Rudolph the Red- Nosed Reindeer” 24/7. Starting to celebrate a holiday early may seem like a fun way to get yourself in the holiday mood or to pump yourself up for all those many late night study sessions. But in my opinion, it actually has the opposite effect. Instead of just going through life day to day, you are now looking forward to a holiday that is over a month away! Starting a countdown to Christmas will be forcing you to live focusing on the future, instead of living in the present and enjoying normal everyday experiences.
Even more than that, by doing this, you are skipping an amazing holiday! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because of the parade, amazing food and all the time spent with family. If I were to get on my soapbox for a little bit, I could point out that the tendency of Americans to skip from celebrating Halloween all the way to Christmas could be highlighting the fact of how materialistic our society has become. I mean c’mon, we skip a holiday all about reminding ourselves of our multitudes of blessings and taking a minute to be thankful for them, to celebrate a holiday where we get presents. (Granted, I know that presents are not the true meaning of Christmas, but just stick with my train of thought to see where I’m coming from).
I’m sure that none of this is the intention of those people that are already listening to Christmas music. I asked my roommate Meghan, a notorious Christmas music listener, why she has already started and she said, “Listening to Christmas music really gets me ready for the holiday and puts me in a great mood all day.”
I’ll admit, Christmas music is my favorite kind of music too, and while I am looking forward to listening to all of my favorite Christmas albums on repeat, I can wait.
I can wait one more month and finish living out all of my fall experiences and enjoying my first fall at Drake University. I can wait one more month before trudging through the snow to my 8 a.m.’s and I can wait one more month in order to continue watching the squirrels chase each other around.
So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to continue drinking my pumpkin spice lattes and listening to my regular Pandora station before switching to peppermint lattes and Christmas music.
