Macy’s jumps gun; Christmas comes early

By Emily Apisa
Collegian Staff
November 14, 2007

It’s early November, and as I walk around Macy’s, the boughs of holly that decorate each doorway fill my heart with rage. Well, maybe that statement is a little strong, but it sure does make me think that somehow the Christmas season has lost some of its magic. A full two months before the actual holiday, pine-scented candles, jingle bells, Christmas carols and all of the symbols that represent the holiday season are popping into stores and commercials. Jumping the gun much?

Macy’s should know better than any department store that the Christmas season does not start until after Thanksgiving. Their annual Thanksgiving Day Parade does not bring Santa out until the very end. It is only then that Santa can officially ring in the Christmas season. Flaunting excessive Christmas spirit before then is just plain hypocritical for Macy’s. This year it seems that most stores took down their Halloween jack o’ lanterns and put up their Christmas wreaths within a week of each other. The lag time between the holidays was non-existent despite the 55 days that separate them.

There is no doubt that Christmas is being pushed further up the calendar each year. Maybe merchandisers are trying to extend the merriest season of the year in order to wish good tidings on everyone or maybe they think the earlier people think that it is Christmastime, the earlier they will start buying the decorations and the presents that accompany the season. My money is on the latter of the two options.

Being bombarded by all things Christmas should help get people in the mood for family and fun, but instead it overloads people.

There is only so much merriness that one can take. I think all of this Christmas fanfare is bringing out the Scrooge in people who would under normal circumstances be elated to deck the hall with bows of holly.

Christmas is really the only holiday I can think of that apparently requires a two-month celebration. Independence Day is pretty much celebrated on the fourth. Possibly that is because there isn’t as much preparation that goes into a backyard barbeque when compared to a Christmas feast. Then there is Easter, which requires a little more preparation than the Fourth of July, but is still a relatively contained holiday. Easter bunnies may appear in malls across the U.S. about two weeks before the actual holiday, but never much earlier than that.

Christmas is the only holiday allowed to run rampant and take a good two months out of our year. Not to mention the month after where you have to return those ugly, ill-fitting sweaters or spend the multiple gift cards, which is the go-to gift for aunts and uncles who don’t know what to buy their college-aged niece.

It’s not that I hate Christmas. I love it. I really do. I just wish it would be celebrated in a more timely fashion. I suggest merchandisers take one holiday at a time. Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and only after the last piece of pumpkin pie has been eaten we can start eating candy canes and cracking open the cartons of eggnog.

apisae1@lasalle.edu