There seems to be two camps of people this time of year: those who vehemently oppose anything Christmas before Thanksgiving and those who hide or apologize for starting their Christmas celebrations a bit early. I used to be in the second camp. Here is why I no longer hide that I start my Christmas season a bit early.
I love Christmas! It is my favorite time of the year. I love Christmas decorating, I love the music, I love the movies, I love buying gifts, I love the baking. I love Christmas. I don’t think one month is long enough to celebrate it.
Celebrating and honoring Christ’s birth as the awesome thing it is should happen for more than a few weeks a year. Yes, we as Christians, are only called to celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection. We have taken a pagan celebration and made it Christian. I am well aware of those fact. However, how amazing is it that God took the form of human and was born? He had to deal with all the same trials we do. (Okay, so many not slow internet and spotty cell reception.) There was no reason that he needed to do all that. I mean, He’s God. He could have just showed up or he could have done something entirely different. But instead, he became human, right from babyhood, to grow up to save us. That’s truly amazing to me. We should take the time to honor his birth every day, but at least longer than a few weeks.
This is the holiday season. I feel that that includes Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as New Year’s. I don’t feel like some Christmas celebrations before Thanksgiving is over takes away from Thanksgiving at all. I don’t go all out before Thanksgiving as I do want to make sure that that holiday doesn’t get skipped. But I do start my Christmas celebrations earlier than December.
As a blogger and Etsy shop owner, I have to start thinking about Christmas early. With having to make sure I have stock in my shop as well as having Christmas-y items available, I have to start before Halloween. The same is true here. As I have posts to write about Christmas both for here and any guest blogging I have to do, I start in October. While I may not start listening to Christmas music in October, I do start in November. It helps me get in a Christmas-y mood while I’m trying to crochet and blog.
It’s just plain fun. Yup. It’s true. I love Christmas so much, that I just want to extend the season. It’s just plain fun for me. My daughter is also turning into a Christmas lover. Why would I want to not want to start having that fun early just because I’m not suppose to? There’s no hard and fast rule that says I must wait until after Thanksgiving to start getting in a Christmas mood.
I have promised my husband that I won’t decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. But I do like to get in the Christmas mood early. While I used to feel a little guilty for putting in that Micheal Buble “Christmas” album November 1st, I now proclaim it and own my decision proudly. I love Christmas and start my celebrating as early as I can. 🙂
Some years I can’t wait to decorate for Christmas, and other years, I need the quiet before the holiday season. Recently, I’ve started setting lights up early especially inside our home. I love the glow in the evenings.
I love that glow too. 🙂
I love this! My family and I have always decorated for Christmas early and it never seemed to be such an issue until recently. I feel like the past few years I have been in that second camp, but this year I’ve started up early once again & I’m showing it! 🙂
Life’s too short for feeling guilty over silly things. 🙂
I usually don’t start any Christmas decorating or celebrating until after Thanksgiving, but I love it and this year I have a table top tree up already along with a few decorations I have made for my blog. I also have a few Thanksgiving decorations out. Yes 2 holiday’s at once. It might seem silly to some but it is making me happy this year. Next year I may start earlier and with more. We will have to see. Thanks for putting this out there.
Two holidays at once? What a rebel! 😉
No Christmas decorating for me until the day after Thanksgiving. I just cannot break that tradition and I love Christmas as much as anyone. I can’t wait for the music but not until Friday. I love my Fall decorations and maybe that is part of it. I decorate for Fall like I do for Christmas.
To each their own! I used to feel like I had to wait. Like it was a law or something. I now refuse to feel guilty for turning on the music a little early. 😉