Halloween is not celebrated in September, Valentine’s day is not celebrated in January and a birthday is not celebrated an entire month prior, yet the Christmas season gets an entire two months in the spotlight. With the Christmas season being so long, where does Thanksgiving fit into the mix?

Specifically in the marketing world, it’s common to start advertising for Christmas right after Halloween ends. As soon as they can, stores like Target, Macy’s and Scheels have Christmas trees up and are selling seasonal decorations, food or other items. Winter holidays are the second largest retail event in America, according to the National Retail Federation, so I can understand why stores start the season so early. 

However, in more than just retail, Christmas is celebrated too early. Christmas music can be heard by Nov. 1 on some radio stations, and commercials for the Christmas season have already begun to air. The moment temperatures start to drop, I hear people all around talking about how it is finally the Christmas season. 

For some, Thanksgiving is not as important as other holidays or as exciting as the winter festivities are. Many people say Thanksgiving gets its day in the middle of the Christmas season and that’s enough, but I think it still deserves its time. Thanksgiving can be a time for friends and/or family to come together and just simply enjoy the company over some great food, or it can simply be a time to reflect on the good things in your life.

Though Christmas is so much easier to celebrate in advance than Thanksgiving is, the Christmas season should not start until after Thanksgiving is over. 

I’m all for starting Christmas as soon as possible but the fall season is from Sept. 22 until Dec. 21. This time should be rightfully split according to the correct holiday of the time. At least from November —at least until after Thanksgiving — should still be dedicated to gratitude and enjoying the fall feeling. Then once that ends,  we can move on to Christmas.