Holidays should be celebrated during their own seasons
By The Pine Tree Editorial Staff
We’re nearing the end of October, which of course means Halloween. Theoretically, this is supposed to mean that it’s the ideal time for stores to be full of decorations and costumes, but it seems that the stores and people alike have already moved on to Christmas. It’s only halfway through October, and Halloween and Thanksgiving are already over. Something is just not right about that. Holidays, especially the ones toward the end of the year, have their own clear and distinct time to be celebrated. That being said, we need to take those times seriously and only celebrate the holiday happening soonest. If you skip around and celebrate whichever holiday you want, whenever you want to, you’re overshadowing the holiday that should be in the spotlight. Also, if everyone just decides to skip ahead to the holidays they like the most when that holiday is not for another two months, people might start to get frustrated or even tired of that holiday before it’s even supposed to be celebrated. Medical advice websites like medicinenet.com even offer stress management advice for what they call Holiday Burnout. Think about it, everyone knows at least one person who hates Christmas music. Maybe they wouldn’t hate it, though, if people didn’t start thinking about Christmas in October. It happens with other holidays, too of course. Halloween decorations line the shelves of stores as early as September, and by October, the fall decorations and anything turkey related are shoved away into a corner to make room for Christmas trees. Because who cares about Thanksgiving, right? Don’t get us wrong, we love Christmas and all these holidays, we just think there’s an appropriate time to celebrate. Right now, the focus should be on the holiday at hand. This can be said pretty much year-round. Celebrating holidays is a memorable time spent with people you love. Each holiday has something different to remember why it is so special, such as Thanksgiving. This holiday brings loved ones together to celebrate their blessings. There is so much history behind this holiday that is overlooked by the business of other holidays and the overstepping of businesses pushing other holidays upon us. People jump from Halloween to Christmas not realizing they truly haven’t celebrated Thanksgiving. The story of the First Thanksgiving is taught at a young age, but we tend to forget the story as we get older. We overlook what this day is really about. There are many reasons families come together for Christmas, like for gifts and money, but Thanksgiving is a time of year when you see family you haven't spoken to in a while, and there is no gift incentive involved. There should be certain time frames or boundaries for holidays like Thanksgiving. If we were not pushed by holiday advertisements, decor, gifts and music we can focus on how important individual holidays are. At midnight after Thanksgiving we are pushed into a rush for Christmas as we stand in crowded, long lines waiting to buy a perfect gift, and that happiness and love we felt the entire day before slowly drifts away. Black Friday brings all of those unnecessary holiday horrors into our life as we are focused on things that really don’t matter. We need to start encouraging the patience of these holidays because we get fixated on the idea of corporate happiness but miss the true joy of the holidays. The reason holidays seem to be getting closer and closer together may have to do with how early some businesses put out their products. In 2018 department stores made a total of 19.4 billion dollars in the United States, and 12.5% of sales at toy and games stores was made during the month of December. A lot of shopping goes on during the month of December already, yet companies still seem to always push out their Christmas themed items or decorations early. We ourselves have even noticed that stores are already selling Christmas ornaments. Just for context on how soon that is, at the time of publication, Halloween still has not happened yet. It also causes the problem of holiday celebrations starting earlier and earlier. When the company sells Christmas merchandise early, the people who like to get a head start on Christmas decorating will buy the products. This in turn creates a cycle in which consumerism starts to dictate the holiday season. This cycle ruins Christmas, a day when the hustle and bustle of life should be put aside for friends and family. Besides, there have been plenty of Christmas movies that employ this exact same theme; Christmas isn’t about what you buy or how pretty the tree is, but about how you spend time with those you love. Plus, waiting until Christmastime to buy your gifts will not hurt the companies either. Amazon sold about 7.16 billion dollars’ worth of goods in 2019, which is a 71% increase from 2018. The major reason for this increase was simply because the sale lasted just a mere 12 hours longer. We see how companies are motivated primarily by revenue incentives. In this Forbes article, companies and small businesses are advised to start planning and marketing at least four months ahead of each holiday to produce more sales. From a marketing standpoint, and in a country where capitalism is embraced and promoted, we acknowledge how that can be great; more sales means more money. However, coming from the consumer’s standpoint, we also realize how holidays are exploited for financial gain by many companies and acknowledge we have the power to not allow them to dictate when we are to celebrate holidays. When you see Christmas decorations on sale as early as September, that is pushing the line. When stores go straight from Halloween to Christmas, they are overlooking Thanksgiving, which is one of the most important holidays in American history. We understand there are people who might not celebrate a certain holiday and will choose to skip it, which is fair. But we do not think those people should be allowed to ignore the fact the holiday exists and move on to the next one. The holiday time frames should be paced throughout the year in such a way so each gets the attention it deserves, and each holiday is able to be celebrated fully. By celebrating the holidays during their own distinct times, we will be able to have a year filled with consecutive festivities. Halloween is just around the corner, so right now should be the time for preparing costumes and telling spooky stories around the campfire. We urge all of those who are looking to make the most out of this holiday season to pay attention to when they choose to start decorating for each holiday and when they choose to start celebrating.