When I walked into Target on November 1st, I was appalled; my favorite section, the dollar section, was filled with Christmas decorations...Christmas decorations. What? That can’t possibly be! Halloween was literally yesterday and now we have already moved on to a holiday that is still a little under two whole months away?! Holiday commercials are playing, Christmas songs are on the radio and tree farms are readying themselves to open for business soon to sell Christmas trees. It is insanity. In all of this sudden Christmas madness, we seem to be forgetting another holiday that comes weeks before, Thanksgiving.

If I had walked into Target seeing heaps and hoards of Thanksgiving decorations, that would have been totally acceptable. However, I was not met with turkeys and Pilgrims, but Christmas galore. Thanksgiving is a fantastic holiday in which we get to see family, friends and eat until we think we might explode. Why is it that we tend to forget about this special holiday until it creeps up on us? Why is Christmas at the forefront of our thoughts this time of year already? Even on the actual day of Thanksgiving people are lining up outside of stores hoping to get the best deals on items they want to give as gifts for Christmas. The poor store employees have to give up being with their friends and family in order to perpetuate this crazy overload of Christmas.

I love Christmas, don’t get me wrong. I look forward to it all year round and as soon as Thanksgiving is over, my house will look like Christmas itself threw up all over the place. But until that day, I will hold off and enjoy what comes before it. When I was younger and saw how the stores seemed to change overnight into a Christmas wonderland, I would get so happy. Now, it stresses me out and makes me realize that the “Christmas wonderland” I once thought these displays were, are simply a ploy for people to start buying into Christmas commercialism as soon as possible and it is a damn shame.

Thanksgiving is coming, but the Christmas takeover is here.