Christmas in October

It's all over my Facebook feed again, people annoyed at Christmas pictures, music and commercials popping up before Thanksgiving. The extreme vexation this causes people is always surprising to me. (There are some rather seriously violent rebuttal cartoons!)

Don't get me wrong, I hate seeing Christmas shopping commercials in early November. Now I'm stressing over getting gifts before I've even chosen what dish I'm making for Thanksgiving dinner. Neither do I particularly like hearing Christmas music while there are still days over 70 degrees. (I live in Maryland. We get snow around Christmas time.) The worst part of the whole thing are the stores preying on customer emotions. It's manipulative and yes, annoys me.

However, stores only play Christmas music and set up oversized glitter bells because people respond. But why do people respond? Why are my college friends posting pictures of their Christmas lights on Nov 1st? Why did a friend of the family post a picture today of her Christmas tree? (Hopefully either it's fake, or she has fifteen smoke alarms in the house and fire extinguishers in every bedroom.)

So I debated the matter while I waited on the water to boil for pasta dinner. My conclusion? In my opinion, people yearn for Christmas because they want to be happy. We can all agree, life is often hard. It's stressful. For many people Christmas brings happy memories, parties, vacations, and time with friends and family. No wonder they want to get to that time as soon as possible!

Or maybe it's just the hope that this year they'll be as happy as all the people in the movies and on Facebook appear. Of course we know the studies show Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year, and people may feel they've failed when they aren't as joyous as they think they should be. Either way, the possibility for extra happiness abounds. So of course people are excited.

Those who get bent out of shape about Christmas showing up early? I'm not sure about their irkiness. Maybe Christmas stresses them out and they don't want to think about it. Maybe religiously they find Christmas offensive. Maybe they hate seeing people happy before the "proper" time. Maybe they're bitter about the emotional pressure Christmas brings. Who knows. That's going to be another thought for another day.

In the meantime, I refuse to get on the bandwagon of hating on people who celebrate Christmas as soon as possible. You do you and take your happiness where you can get it.