{"id":28435,"date":"2019-11-14T07:58:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T14:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/?p=28435"},"modified":"2019-11-14T07:58:48","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T14:58:48","slug":"christmas-too-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/christmas-too-early\/","title":{"rendered":"Decorating at Home is the New Debate of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChristmasBig in the news today, November 14th<\/sup>, is word of a Home Owners Association in Texas making a family remove their Christmas decorations<\/a><\/strong> because they are up \u201ctoo early\u201d. The letter was received by the family on November 4th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

That news has kicked off a furious media rush of stories and opinions about Christmas<\/a> Creep \u2013 a phenomenon of complaining about Christmas<\/a> too soon.<\/p>\n

In Miami they can\u2019t handle Christmas decorations<\/a><\/strong> at the mall. Rolling Stone laments the presence of Christmas music<\/a><\/strong> climbing their own charts. In London a news organization tried tree-shaming Christmas fans<\/a><\/strong> who put their trees up in November. At Penn State<\/a><\/strong> a survey says Thanksgiving<\/a> season is what should be the focus, not the Christmas<\/a> season.<\/p>\n

Christmas<\/a> Creep is not a new debate. The argument usually gets a start as stores begin selling Christmas<\/a> merchandise in August.<\/p>\n

The fact that homeowners are now being frowned upon for their festive spirit in November is a new level of whine in the media.<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving<\/a> falls on November 28th<\/sup> this year leaving just 27 days between Thanksgiving<\/a> and Christmas<\/a>. For many that is a short season.<\/p>\n

By tradition most homeowners begin hanging lights<\/a> right after Halloween<\/a>. There is nothing new about that. The weather, more than any thing else, has always made that a reality.<\/p>\n

While most wait until Thanksgiving<\/a> to light home displays the proliferation of new decorations<\/a> in laser lights<\/a>, inflatables, blow molds and motion d\u00e9cor has made the average home display more complex. Perhaps some in their enthusiasm have to get started earlier.<\/p>\n

\"DecorateIn defense of early decorating some \u201cexperts\u201d say that Christmas Creep can be good for the soul<\/a><\/strong> and that those who do it are healthier and happier<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We note with a twinkle in our eye that the complaints appear to be selective. When was the last time you heard the media complain about Hallmark’s big Christmas-in-July ornament showcase or QVC’s big summer Christmas<\/a> sales events?<\/p>\n

When the Rockettes take over an entire city block during a hot August day to promote their Christmas<\/a> show, complete with the help of city police, does the media notice or even care?<\/p>\n

When Michael Buble or Pentatonix or other musicians drop a new Christmas<\/a> video in October does the media complain? Never.<\/p>\n

The media frequently contributes to Christmas<\/a> Creep. They shamelessly promote (without charge) Starbuck’s Christmas cups in early November<\/a><\/strong> (as if it is urgent national news). They breathlessly update<\/a><\/strong> us on the progress of putting up the Rockefeller Center Christmas<\/a> tree.<\/p>\n

Yet, here they are collectively complaining about Christmas<\/a> like there is no other news to report: in Cincinnati<\/a><\/strong>, in New York<\/a><\/strong>, in Maryland<\/a><\/strong>, in Oklahoma<\/a><\/strong>, in Virginia<\/a><\/strong>, in Wisconsin<\/a><\/strong>, in Colorado<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0 — the media even complained about a presidential candidate wearing a Christmas tie<\/a><\/strong>. Even Canada has media who can’t stand Christmas<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Advertisers and retailers have been selectively spotlighted — and cheered — by the media for their positions on Christmas<\/a> Creep. This year it was eBay who promised to “chill this holiday”<\/a><\/strong> by promising not to promote Christmas<\/a> stuff until November.<\/p>\n

Sometimes complaining about Christmas<\/a> creep is expedient. Last year<\/a><\/strong>, Target made headlines by claiming they were listening to their customers about Christmas<\/a> Creep and declared they would not advertise Christmas<\/a> before Thanksgiving<\/a>. This year<\/a><\/strong>, it’s a different story — November 1st, baby.<\/p>\n

All this collective noise about when Christmas<\/a> is and is not appropriate needs a subtle reminder. Christmas and Thanksgiving have gone together like peas-and-carrots for nearly five centuries<\/a><\/strong>. You literally cannot have one without the other.<\/p>\n

Christmas<\/a> on the mind, on the lips, in the heart and even decorated on the home is not inappropriate or “too soon” in any way.<\/p>\n

If you don’t like it you don’t have to participate.<\/p>\n

\"Say<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big in the news today, November 14th, is word of a Home Owners Association in Texas making a family remove their Christmas decorations because they are up \u201ctoo early\u201d. The letter was received by the family on November 4th. That news has kicked off a furious media rush of stories and opinions about Christmas Creep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":41,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[756,757],"class_list":["post-28435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas-decorating","tag-christmas-creep-christmas-decorating","tag-christmas-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}