I know, I know — it's November, and it's also the month of the turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potato pies and it that shall not be named, aka pumpkin spice. Now, I love Thanksgiving just as much as the next holiday-loving girl, but November is also the prep time for what I strongly believe to be the greatest holiday ever: Christmas. Even adding on to that, I believe that the month of November is an amazing time for people who might not be in the Christmas spirit to prep themselves.
The usual pushback to a statement like this is the obvious: “It’s not even Thanksgiving yet!” Well, no kidding. So how do you get folks to stop chanting “bah humbug” and start buying cartons and cartons of eggnog, you ask? Have no fear, because your resident elf/Christmas lover/holiday addict is here. Sit back, listen to some Christmas tunes and take notes.
1. Listen to all of the Christmas music that you can get your hands on.
You think I'm joking? If you don't have any Christmas songs by artists like The Jackson 5, Bing Crosby or Nat King Cole... leave.
Buy yourself an ugly Christmas sweater and bask in how fab you look.
It has bells on it? Great. An ugly elf print on it? Even better. Lights up? Absolutely magical.
Listen to Mariah Carey. Yes, that one song that we all hate to love.
You know the song. Don't even lie. You can't resist the urge you feel when the first few seconds hit and you want to mimic that run at the beginning.
Participate in the war that is Black Friday.
Before you gasp in fear at the fact that I even suggested such a thing, calm yourself. I'm not talking about camping out for a trillion hours just to buy a revamped model of some creepy Elmo toy. I'm just saying to get up at a reasonable hour and at least check out some of the stores. I promise you that even if you don't buy anything, it'll be worth it for the people watching. Trust me.
EGG NOG.
You better drown yourself in the deliciously eggy/creamy/heavenly substance that is a gift from the heavens above. Even if you don't particularly like it, it's almost obligatory to at least have a sip.
Bake every Christmas themed food you can think of.
The Pillsbury Christmas cookies are waiting patiently for you.
Buy the Michael Bublé Christmas album.
There's no better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to listen to the perfection that is Michael Bublé and his voice.
Watch "Love Actually" and a ton of other Christmas movies.
Where else do you get to see Rick Grimes? Actually, correction: Where else do you get to see Rick Grimes in a Christmas movie? Uh-huh. Exactly. Not only can you watch that, but with the library of classic Christmas movies, cartoons and TV specials, you'll be wearing a Santa hat by the end of your Christmas movie marathon.
Remember that Christmas isn't just about gifts. Actually, it's not about gifts at all.
Sure, the gifts are great — but in the big picture of it all? Well, Christmas is more than that. It's the little moments. The decorating of the tree, the optimistic Christmas music, the baking and more are the little things that make up the magic of Christmas. Even if you might not have much for this Christmas, just know that it's not the material things that count. It's the sheer concept of knowing that the world can fall into a month of optimism, and now more than ever, that's something that we need right now.
When people complain that we're into Christmas too early already, they might fail to realize that while a lot of Christmas lovers are just in it for the gifts, there's a lot of us who love it for the absolute peace it can bring to our families, ourselves and those who are less fortunate.
So, for the Scrooges of the world, I hope this piece helped you out, but if it didn't, then you can bah humbug away from me, my Christmas spirit and my egg nog.
