{"id":34228,"date":"2024-08-25T12:44:36","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T18:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/?p=34228"},"modified":"2024-08-25T12:44:36","modified_gmt":"2024-08-25T18:44:36","slug":"sneaking-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/sneaking-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Sneaking Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many are the ways of sneaking Christmas<\/a>. It is heralded by some, booed by others. For the critical media, it\u2019s something called Christmas<\/a> Creep and they drag it out every year.<\/p>\n

Right after Christmas-in-July is over the stories start to pop-up of Christmas<\/a> trees for sale at Costco and how horrid that is.<\/p>\n

But the Christmas<\/a> creep the media complains about is only made possible by those who hold Christmas<\/a> dear.<\/p>\n

For the Christmas<\/a> faithful recognizing, anticipating and celebrating Christmas<\/a> long before December is a time-cherished tradition. And frankly, we don\u2019t really care who doesn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Christmas<\/a> is more than just a day.<\/p>\n

\"Merry<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not even about Santa<\/a>, lights, stockings and tinsel. Christmas<\/a> isn\u2019t just a day off. It\u2019s not the food, the gifts, the movies or the music. It\u2019s not about anything commercial. And it is not about greed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about a feeling.<\/p>\n

A good feeling. A wanted feeling. A necessary feeling. A sought after feeling. An anticipated feeling. A feeling of warmth, a feeling of peace, a feeling of togetherness, a feeling of love.<\/p>\n

It is amazing how these feelings bring diverse people together.<\/p>\n

And it is amazing how those critical of sneaking Christmas<\/a> simply do not understand what it means and why it is necessary.<\/p>\n

It comes from watching Christmas<\/a> movies in the heat of summer in a darkened room. It comes from lighting candles, counting down the days and weeks, and in building anticipation for\u2026joy.<\/p>\n

It can be different things to different people.<\/p>\n

For some, it\u2019s just an aroma \u2013 something that might come from the kitchen or some seasonal element only available at certain times.<\/p>\n

Why do you think pumpkin spice has become such a thing? It\u2019s a harbinger of the good feelings to come. Part of it all.<\/p>\n

Like celebrating the Ber months of September, October, November and December. There\u2019s a common thread among each month and it\u2019s all Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For others it comes from other kinds of mood-setters.<\/p>\n

Like the warmth of a wooly sweater on a cool, rainy fall day.<\/p>\n

For others it\u2019s a stroll through stores stockpiling decorations, lights and knick-knacks. That\u2019s not stuff to buy right now: that\u2019s stuff to browse and dream about.<\/p>\n

Labor Day in the United States, usually the first week of September, is definitely a trigger.<\/p>\n

That is a time when it is \u201cokay\u201d to actually, maybe, in the right company to even whisper the word Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The more militant among us get still snarky about it sometimes.<\/p>\n

They will insist that no Christmas<\/a> music is played before Thanksgiving. They complain about eggnog before Halloween or \u201cpre-mature\u201d decorations in office cubicles.<\/p>\n

But those of us who sneak Christmas<\/a> are not deterred.<\/p>\n

Unlike any other holiday Christmas<\/a> is a season \u2013 a time of year and a repeated season of life.<\/p>\n

We hold our traditions dear.<\/p>\n

The tree is going to be more spectacular this year than last year. Everything old will be on it with something that is new.<\/p>\n

The lights on the house are going to be brighter and better and more creative than ever before.<\/p>\n

We can wait for gingerbread, candy canes and Grandma\u2019s fudge.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to listen to every old song \u2013 many times, of course \u2013 and re-watch favorite old movies of Christmas<\/a>, some of which are approaching almost 100 years old.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll sneak it all in over time.<\/p>\n

A little in September, a little more in October, and a lot more in early November.<\/p>\n

Come Thanksgiving Day, the shackles come completely off. We sneak no more. It\u2019s Christmas<\/a> even though Christmas<\/a> is still more than a month away.<\/p>\n

Sneaking Christmas<\/a> is as big a tradition as Christmas<\/a> trees, sugar cookies, reindeer and mistletoe.<\/p>\n

And we refuse to feel bad or apologize for it.<\/p>\n

In fact, here\u2019s a secret you may already know if you\u2019re one to be bothered by Christmas<\/a> outside of December: we kind of like the recognition by those who get their knickers in a twist over stuff that makes us feel good.<\/p>\n

White Christmas<\/a> on the radio<\/a> bothers you? Ok. We\u2019ll turn it up.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t want the White Peppermint Cocoa in October? Ok, we\u2019ll order it large and we\u2019ll even order one for you and watch you sip it under furrowed brows.<\/p>\n

Santa\u2019s everywhere, mall decorations, hanging Christmas<\/a> lights and buying Christmas<\/a> stamps gets you all hot and bothered?<\/p>\n

GOOD.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s part of Christmas<\/a> too. Grinches, if you haven\u2019t noticed, are equally celebrated as the other stuff. Same with Scrooge.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because we know, deep down, and you might hate to ever admit it, you love Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You have to.<\/p>\n

Granted, there are those with legitimate gripes about Christmas<\/a>. Bad memories, terrible things that happened in a Christmas<\/a> past, lost associations that can\u2019t be recovered, etc. Yes, we recognize the heavy stuff of life also happens in December.<\/p>\n

But Christmas<\/a> cannot be hated only because it comes early, often or too soon for the surly among us.<\/p>\n

Those who sneak Christmas<\/a> only want what\u2019s good about it. They only want the love.<\/p>\n

So, in the coming weeks and months as the cries of Christmas<\/a> creep surface in the media and on the news, just smile.<\/p>\n

What they really mean is Merry Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many are the ways of sneaking Christmas. It is heralded by some, booed by others. For the critical media, it\u2019s something called Christmas Creep and they drag it out every year. Right after Christmas-in-July is over the stories start to pop-up of Christmas trees for sale at Costco and how horrid that is. But the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Sneaking Christmas | MyMerryChristmas.com","_seopress_titles_desc":"Christmas creep is not a bad thing. Sneaking Christmas is a tradition we love.","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":350,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas-news","category-christmas-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34228","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=34228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}