Many of us ask this question as soon as we notice Hobby Lobby start to stock their shelves with ornaments and tinsel in early October, and yet none of us have an answer. The Hallmark Channel starts their countdown to Christmas special before our Halloween pumpkins even have the chance to rot, and several radio stations start playing “Frosty the Snowman” the day after Halloween. But I can’t help but sit here and ask why?

I don’t know if society owns a holiday calendar or not, but we are passing Thanksgiving fast as if it were a sketchy pit stop on the highway. I grew up in a house where as soon as Starbucks started serving their holiday drinks was when the Christmas china made its debut on the dining room table but with protest from my dad, of course. If my dad was in the car with us, though, we were not allowed to play any Christmas music unless we were going back home from visiting family after Thanksgiving. Every family member has their preference of when to celebrate it, but what does society say?

Many TV networks begin celebrating early and now that Halloween is officially behind us, I bet you are going to see a few Christmas commercials start to pop up until that is all we see for the remainder of the year.

Many of us have protested this, but, honestly, there is nothing we can do because most commercial businesses depend on Christmas to keep their businesses afloat until the New Year, and that is because Christmas has become a commercialized holiday. Now instead of family time being the primary focus of the holiday season, kids are concerned with what they got for Christmas as compared to the kid down the street.

This is the new status quo, and unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it.

When it comes to celebrating Christmas, everyone has their own preference, and frankly, that is fine and should be fine for society. But unfortunately, society has other plans, and instead of letting us wait until November 27, many of us have Christmas shoved down our throats as early as November 1. Over the years we have become adjusted to it because frankly there is nothing we can do.

Everyone is different, come from different backgrounds and have different preferences — so why are we all forced to celebrate Christmas so early? I grew up with parents who debated this issue heatedly as if they were presidential candidates, and through this I was able to pick when to start celebrating myself. Living in the South, we are notorious for our humid Christmas mornings and our lack of snow. With that though, I personally believe it is appropriate to start celebrating as soon as the temperature dips below 65 and there is frost on the ground when I wake up. It doesn't feel like Christmas until the weather changes. And I know that is a lot to ask, but that is just something that the people over at The Hallmark Channel, Starbucks and the radio stations need to understand.