We are getting to that time of year when society deems it's okay for us to finally put up our Christmas decorations because God forbid you have them up before Thanksgiving. The problem with this statement is the fact that many people are doing what society wants them to do, rather than what they want to do themselves. "Wait until Thanksgiving is over, then you can put your Christmas decorations up," people say. Or, "I can't believe that there is Christmas stuff in the stores already, Halloween was just a week ago." I'm here to question this, though, does it really matter when people put up their Christmas decorations, is it really taking a toll on you if you see Christmas stuff out before Thanksgiving. The real answer to this question is no, but many people feel that it does matter and they do voice their opinions on this topic, I hear it all the time.
I work in retail and yes we had our Christmas items start to stock the shelves before Halloween. In all honesty, I had no problem with this at all because Christmas is my favorite holiday, but others were not as happy as I was. I would hear people whisper things like, "Can you believe they are putting that Christmas stuff out already?" or "Can we please get past Thanksgiving before you shove all this Christmas down on us." I just have to laugh to myself really because sometimes we can't control when we put things out in our store, if corporate makes an ad and it includes Christmas stuff in October/November then yes we are going to be stocking our shelves with those items because we are a business you know, we have to make money somehow and we make money by selling the items that show up in the flyers and ads.
It doesn't only happen in the retail place either, I've heard people complain about seeing other people's houses decorated for Christmas before November has even begun. Again, I ask the question - does it really matter? Are those decorations hurting you in any way, shape or form? Did you have to do the work to put the decorations up? The answer to all of these is probably no. You probably didn't happen to help the random stranger that lives across town put up their Christmas decorations. And I'm sure that those decorations have not hurt you physically because I mean, after all, they are decorations and they don't come to life at night and wander away from their yard to go hurt someone. I'm personally someone that love to see other people's decorations and I don't really care what time of year it is. I've said this a hundred times to my friends and family and I'm going to say it here too, I could literally have my Christmas decorations up all year round if I could. I don't live alone so that's not a possibility for me.
One last note on this topic is the fact that maybe these Christmas decorations you see start to go up in the beginning of November make whoever the person is that put them up happy. Do you really want to criticize what someone else uses to make themselves happy? Well, that's exactly what you are doing by making these hush-hush comments in checkout lines, or to your friends in the car. This is literally like saying something like, "oh I don't like flower gardens, I don't think you should have a flower garden in your front lawn." By telling someone that it's too early for them to put up their Christmas decorations, you're basically telling them that they don't deserve to be happy because the rest of the world doesn't feel the same way about Christmas decorations.
I'm here to tell you that if you want to put your Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving, before Halloween, hey even in July, you do it. if they make you happy and you find enjoyment from seeing them, then put them up, leave them up all year round if you want to, it is your house and your decision after all. Don't let society tell you that you can't put your decorations up because they don't want to see them, do what you want to do and do what you know is going to bring joy to your life. With that being said, i think I'm going to go put my decorations up right now. Happy Holidays.
