November is the New Christmas Season

It appears that Thanksgiving now officially no longer exists...at least not to any store with an interest in making a profit. The "Holiday Season" as this is called, seems to have become simply, "The Christmas Season." The radio stations around here began playing Christmas music the day after Halloween, which=November 1. While I adore Christmas, I wonder if this particular trend is really good for people. Christmas is altogether too stressful for so many people. I hope that an increase in length of the Christmas season doesn't amount to an increase in people wishing the season were just over with. I worry sometimes that if we go straight from Halloween, a holiday all about getting candy for children, to Christmas, which is a holiday all about getting presents for a lot of children (and some adults...), that we're going to forget to be grateful somewhere in the middle. That's why I love Thanksgiving so much. It's the perfect holiday to make you pause somewhere in the middle of all the getting and worrying about giving to realize how blessed you are and how much you actually have. I think Thanksgiving gives a great perspective to the Christmas season, and helps people maintain a little patience as they wait in those long sale lines and deal with parking lot traffic.

For these reasons, I'm not listening to Christmas music yet. I'm not watching (although it's likely my favorite movie of all time) A Muppet Christmas Carol, and we haven't put up a Christmas Tree yet. This is in no way a protest...but I get a little more excited each day for our Christmas Season. I get just a tiny bit warmer inside as I think about how much fun it will be to bundle up and go caroling at some point, and I get just a little more excited each day to see people's reactions to presents when they get them. I'm building up some serious Christmas Enthusiasm here, and I can hardly wait to unleash it all...right after Thanksgiving.