Just as the buzz from Thanksgiving break has fizzled out, we’ve been noticing an omnipresent feeling of anticipation for the one holiday that overshadows all others: Christmas, or depending on what you celebrate, just the entire winter holiday season.
In fact, just the day after Halloween, the annual Mariah Carey “It’s Time” video had been released, according to ABC News. The video was released without even getting to Thanksgiving. In light of this untimely holiday cheer and now that Thanksgiving is finally over, we feel that it’s finally time to ask the question that has been on our minds: How early is too early for Christmas?
Now, when we mention Christmastime, we like to think of it as an all-encompassing term for the wreaths hanging on our doors, hot chocolate on late nights, time we share with loved ones, and window panes covered in a thin layer of snow, not just the specific holiday itself. Though all of these aspects of Christmastime sound amazing, there is a time and place for holiday cheer. One may even argue that the festivities seem to be coming increasingly early every single year.
We believe celebrating Christmas before even getting to Thanksgiving feels like overkill. Rushing to put up your tree before the turkey is out the oven means missing the fundamental core of the holiday: the winter season. Thanksgiving can be thought of as the transitional period between autumn and winter. That is exactly why Halloween and Christmas feel so set in stone as distinct holidays. They are directly attributable to very specific times of the year.
When thinking of the perfect time to start bringing out your trees and blinking lights, we need to consider a variety of factors. For instance, school is one factor. Winter break typically begins a few days before Christmas Eve. Celebrate too early and you’ll still be in the trenches of taking tests, studying for quizzes, and doing homework, which doesn’t exactly get you into the mood to celebrate. Celebrate too late and in that last week before school’s out at noon on December 23, you miss out on basking in the lighter workload and partaking in winter festivities, such as the school’s annual tradition of the Madrigals’ performance. Weather is another thing to consider, since it plays a huge role in making Christmas truly feel like a winter holiday.. Celebrating Christmas too early risks missing out on the early December atmosphere and drawing out the holiday. After all, who really wants to celebrate a holiday for more than a month?
With all this said, what is the perfect time to celebrate Christmas? In our view, early December is the sweet spot. It’s just early enough to have some lead-up before the break, but not so early that it muddies the essence of the holiday itself.
Furthermore, according to our survey, our opinion is one widely shared by students and staff at Tenafly High School. We’ve asked a total of twenty-five people about their thoughts. The results were definitive, yet surprisingly spread out amongst the other options. Mid-November was the least popular with a voting percentage of 4%. Late November and the week before Christmas were tied at 8%. Christmas Eve was the choice of 12% of people, and after Halloween came out to be 16%, showing Mariah Carey might be onto something. But the most widely agreed upon time was early December at a whopping 52%. According to our survey’s respondents, early December is truly the beginning of Christmas and the winter holidays.
This means that the time to start celebrating is now! What are your plans for the holidays this year?
