It’s mid-November and your co-worker posts a pic of her homemade burlap wreath with a red bow that she’s already got on the front door. Underneath her grandma’s typo-filled, all caps compliment is sure to be the “it’s too early” guy condemning early holiday decorating, completely bewildered at the thought of Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. By now the majority of your Facebook feed is likely an attack on department stores that roll out the red and green at midnight on November 1st.
I’m here to address early holiday decorating and why it was perfectly acceptable for me to start listening to Christmas music by November 12th on 99.5 WMAG. I apparently need to explain why it’s none of your concern if I want to see my Thanksgiving turkey reflecting off glass balls on the Christmas tree.
Are y'all really that against skipping Thanksgiving decorations? For starters, I’ve never met a cornucopia that I thought was all that pretty. I’m not against mini gourds or corn stalks if that’s your thing, but if it’s not ours then please allow us skip to the greenery and ornate inflatables.
I have a lot of holiday decorations…A LOT. Enough to make the men in my family consider disowning me whenever I have to move. Decorating for me is a process that takes several weekends. I want to spend the month of December relaxing (drinking) with friends and family…not picking up a fully decorated Christmas tree that toppled over in my kitchen (true story). I’m also very serious about my Christmas lights and I’m warning you now…Wal-Mart runs out of certain varieties of lights early. Make sure you don’t get yourself in a traditional-LED mismatch because you waited too late to start decorating.
Thanksgiving is like the kickoff to the holiday marathon ahead through Christmas and New Years. If your holiday decorations start going up before Thanksgiving you can rest easy in stretchy pants during that food coma that you know is sure to come.
For goodness sake, early Christmas decorating doesn’t mean I’m not thankful. Christmas decorations are the dearest reminder of my childhood. My mom LOVES Christmas…she puts up more Christmas trees each year than there are rooms in her house. Christmas reminds me of my dad letting me decorate with as many tacky blow molds as I wanted if it made my heart content. It wasn’t about the presents…it was about decorating together and the girls making our uncle coconut bon-bons even if all those chocolate melts made me nauseous. It was about pulling out card tables and banquet chairs after locking the spare bedroom door right before guests arrive, lying to yourself that you'll actually get it cleaned out before next Christmas. It was about eating my Granny’s cream corn and my Mama’s yeast rolls.
Christmas decorations bring out a certain type of gratuitous nostalgia from within me that will literally produce tears when Delilah drops that “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” or a Lorraine calls in to talk about how blessed she is. This doesn’t mean I’m only thankful during the holidays, but Christmas is special in that it just brings out a certain type of magic and comfort.
I want so badly for everyone else to feel the holiday spirit my family instilled into my heart. I spend a lot of time putting up decorations because I want you to enter my home during the holidays and feel like you’re in whatever cheesy Christmas movie I have on the Hallmark Channel (spoiler alert: someone probably moved off to the big city and lost their Christmas spirit). I want you to think about all the special holiday moments in your past that brought you joy. I want you to feel like a kid again. I want to drink wine with you and tell you how much I love and appreciate you until you get annoyed with me.
So wouldn't it make sense that on Thanksgiving...the most giving of thanks day of the year...that I should set the scene for ultimate nostalgia?
Besides, there are families that may have to celebrate the holidays early due to military service, distance, etc. Is it really necessary to put up a cranky PSA attempting to regulate early holiday decorating just because some of us want to catch the Christmas cheer Megabus a few weeks early?
Do what you want with your November but what happens in my yard is none of your business no matter how “interesting” you think my light display is (yes, I was outside and heard you). Have a holly jolly November and in the words of Rick Bragg:
“I wish you a Merry Christmas and a very hefty light bill!”
-Southern Living, December 2011