Like many college students, I have to work a part-time job at a retail store to make ends meet. Honestly, if it were up to me, I would be working anywhere else besides retail at a high-end store, but that’s the only place that was hiring at the time. My shifts are long, boring, and generally, not much happens. However, the other day when I went into work I was hit with the scariest thing I could think of—twinkling holiday lights.
It was less than 24 hours since I wiped off my face makeup and packed away my cat ears for next year, and now I was being assaulted by holiday lights and Christmas trees. These items are like beacons for holiday shoppers to usher them into the busy mall and directly into contact with me. Santa is arriving at the mall next week, which is the unofficial start to mothers and husbands and teenagers pouring into my store’s doors to find the "perfect" gifts. My store has been planning for Black Friday since September. I’ve simply had enough.
When did we stop thinking about November as its own separate month? When did November become nothing more than the pre-holiday holiday season where all we do is take the month to prepare for the next month’s festivities? These are all questions that pop in my head with every glimpse of Santa I see.
There is a feeling of insanity that ensues when you think about years past. Was the holiday rush always so early? The answer is no, but truly you cannot remember a time when stores weren’t pushing the holidays down your throat before supermarkets even put out their Thanksgiving turkeys. I was beside myself when I saw colorful lights blaring at me from Macy’s at the beginning of October. If that’s the direction the holidays are going to start taking, then I may have to just lock myself in my room from October until Christmas.
Why are we in such a rush to speed along? It creates an amazing amount of stress to mentally and financially to celebrate three holidays in the span of three months, but when it feels like you cannot get a break in between them it becomes downright exhausting. I would not be surprised if there was a team of psychologists that are coming up with the term for the doom and gloom a person feels as the holidays viciously closes in on them.
It feels as though I am being harassed by carols, the smell of evergreen, and glittery snowflakes everywhere I turn. Every company in the country needs to just relax and enjoy the leftover Halloween candy, start planning the Thanksgiving dinner, and leave the holiday plans as a distant idea to worry about in another month.
