Before (Reece Bachta)

The day is Nov. 1, the wind is crisp, the weather is changing and the holiday spirit is in the air. The Starbucks Holiday drinks are out, the Black Friday sales are up and the Christmas lights are shining bright. 

I personally believe that the Christmas season starts as soon as possible, so the first day of November. Countless businesses agree with me; Target has their holiday section out and ready to go and most importantly stores and shopping malls have their holiday lights shining bright in a wide variety of holiday colors. The spirit of the Holidays is in the air. 

Why would you not want to celebrate the best season in the year for the longest time possible. Personally, don’t hate me,I am not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving, it is a bit overrated. It is a glorified buffet style family reunion. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of being thankful and being with my family and friends to share a meal, but Thanksgiving to me is just more like an intro into Christmas than a huge celebration. There’s no sparkle to Thanksgiving like there is with Christmas. So let’s skip the turkey and get straight to the gingerbread houses. 

Some of the best memories and traditions I have made in my family revolve around Christmas. The Christmas countdown is my favorite. My family has a tree that we put up that has magnetic ornaments with different numbers for everyday that we get closer to Dec. 25. We also put up our tree in the middle of November, I love going through all the ornaments. From the handmade ones from Kindergarten to the nice ones that you have to hold with two hands so Mom doesn’t get mad. 

The family photos with Santa of years past are posted up for everyone to see, and the smell of the family recipe sugar cookies fills the air, and the Amazon boxes on the doorstep create anticipation for Christmas morning.

Sorry to all the Scrooges out there, but Santa Claus is coming to town. It is time to bring out the lights, wrap the presents, and send out the family Christmas cards. Merry Christmas, and of course…. A happy new year.

After (Lexi Newsom)

December 25th. The first seven days of January. The month of July. Two whole months from Halloween (and sometimes before).

Christmas is taking over our year; its season is staining our calendars in red and green ink. 

Whatever happened to the “holiday season?” Baking cookies is fun and all, but lately, this has become more of a plague-like activity. Those letters to the big man in a red suit are sickening; the songs that are played over and over are like poison.

To be clear, I do not hate Christmas. I love baking with my family, giving gifts, singing in the backseat of the car, and other holiday traditions.

But that’s the thing: it’s a season. Something that comes and, more importantly, goes.

With retailers already selling Christmas decorations in the Halloween season, it’s so easy to overlook this wonderful holiday of candy and horror. My question: if Christmas can be celebrated for practically an entire year, why can’t we dedicate even a week to the cobwebs and spiders, to the purple and orange, to dressing up and being kids again?

Yet waiting until November 1st still is far too early. Eliminating a week is great, but since everyone has apparently forgotten by now, I’ll remind you: there’s another holiday in November!

Thanksgiving has a complicated history, but to me, those three days off of school are a time to reconnect with extended family. To spend an entire day with them in the kitchen or watching movies and an entire evening sharing one meal. Despite never having shelf space at stores, Thanksgiving has its own traditions: sweet potatoes, casseroles, stuffing and of course, the leftovers that last for days. This is a time too often underappreciated: one dedicated entirely to family.

Maybe I am crazy, but I’d love to enjoy a holiday about giving thanks and spending time with people without the influence of a highly-commercialized holiday that lasts for so long, just so businesses can make additional revenue. That’s truly what this comes down to: money. When it seems that this green paper drives everything, why can we not look forward to a holiday about family and coming together? Let’s not downplay all of the distinctly human celebrations to rush towards asking for things and spending cash.

Is this not too much to ask?