The argument about whether we should celebrate/get ready for Christmas before Thanksgiving has been around for years, but in 2021 it feels the debate has been heightened.
Christmas is arguably the most popular holiday around the world, however here in the United States of America we celebrate Thanksgiving roughly a month before Christmas. Even though we all recognize and celebrate Thanksgiving with our families, many people don’t decorate for Thanksgiving, opting to decorate and start celebrating Christmas immediately after Halloween. Depending on the person this either brings people immense joy or immense frustration, especially for those whose favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.
It has been an ongoing dispute about when to start listening to Christmas music but in recent years it has gone beyond just music. The question of when to decorate for Christmas, when stores should be selling Christmas supplies, when advertising appealing to Christmas and just when we should start getting into the Christmas spirit have all been brought up in the Christmas before Thanksgiving debate.
Just bringing up this topic lights a fire under people and causes them to get passionate and want to make sure their opinion is heard. When this topic was brought up in Mountain View Highschool’s journalism class the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. The class went from being quiet and having a very calm pitch meeting to many people wanting to give their view on the issue, including the teacher. Many strong opinions were heard mostly against having Christmas before Thanksgiving. This gave a good indication on how people feel on this issue, but still an even deeper look was done.
To get a wider variety of opinions a poll was posted in order to see where more people stand on this topic. When putting out the poll three questions were posed:
Should we start listening to Christmas music before or after Thanksgiving?
Should we start decorating for Christmas before or after Thanksgiving?
When should we overall start celebrating Christmas before or after Thanksgiving?
Overall the results of these polls were mainly in favor of celebrating Christmas after Thanksgiving.
The results when asked when we should start listening to Christmas music were the most mixed with 39% for listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving while 61% were against it. With Christmas music so often being heard immediately after Halloween it is surprising to see that the majority of people are against listening to it before Thanksgiving.
Christmas decorations may sometimes be seen in stores even before Halloween ends which according to the poll should be done away with. According to the vote only 26% of people taking the poll are for Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving meaning 74% are against it. Of the three questions posed this one yielded the most negative responses for Christmas before Thanksgiving. It was a shocking result seeing as how common it is to skip Thanksgiving decorations and go straight for Christmas.
The final question was the most broad but as a result was able to give more room for peoples opinions and stances on the Christmas before Thanksgiving issue. The outcome was as follows: 28% are for celebrating and getting into the Christmas spirit before Thanksgiving while 72% of pollers were for keeping the Christmas spirit waiting for Thanksgiving to pass. Overall what may be found most interesting about these poll results is that when compared to the last poll question more people are for celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving than for decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving, which is slightly illogical.
Overall when the consensus is given more people believe that we should be celebrating Christmas after Thanksgiving rather than starting to celebrate before. This leaves the question of why do we see so much Christmas before Thanksgiving? The simple answer may be that companies are preparing for Christmas/ trying to make more money at the Christmas season. While there may be no changing companies and their money making ways anytime soon, individually deciding when to celebrate Christmas is still an individual decision. So whether one wants to celebrate Christmas before or after Thanksgiving do what feels best and enjoy the holiday season to the fullest.