Every year around Christmas time, you will see huge blow-ups of Santa, beautifully decorated trees, and bright lights lining the street. Is there a right time to start seeing this? Is it November first? December first? After Thanksgiving? 

After speaking to many different people, I have discovered that people give a variety of responses about the beginning of Christmas. Personally I believe that it shouldn’t start until after Thanksgiving. By getting into the Christmas spirit so early you’re completely ignoring the great holiday of Thanksgiving, which is all about being with family and friends and sharing what you’re thankful for. Thanksgiving also brings another time where people are able to see family and friends they wouldn’t normally see.

By getting into the Christmas spirit so early, it can take away from the true meaning of Christmas, and people can get bored of Christmas if they’re around it so much. Another issue is that every year people turn Christmas into a competition about who can have the brightest lights, or the most decorations, or who can get the best gift, and by starting Christmas so early in the year, these competitions are just going to get out of hand and get bigger and bigger every year until it ruins Christmas. 

On the other hand, starting Christmas early can be good for everyone. Some people who wait the entire year for Christmas time would be overjoyed if they could get an extra few weeks where everyone is enjoying Christmas. Some people cherish the moments spent with their families and friends doing Christmasy things like decorating a tree, putting up decorations, and looking at other people’s lights and decorations, so these moments will be more common with just a few extra weeks of Christmas time. 

To find out more about what people think about the start of Christmas, I asked the person who I knew would have an answer: my Mom! She thinks that the right time to get in the Christmas spirit is the beginning of December. I also spoke to a couple of students. Jaden and James, both juniors, say that the perfect time for Christmas is about two weeks before the holiday (around mid December). 

In the end there is no right or wrong time for Christmas. As long as everyone is able to enjoy the holidays and spend time with their loved ones, it doesn’t really matter when you get into the spirit. 

* photo via Google Images under the Creative Commons license