Every year the U.S. seems to start its celebration of the end-of-the-year holidays a little bit sooner than the previous year, and I”m not complaining.
Before the summer season was even officially over, autumn themed decor and other products have been advertised across the Palouse. Why people have the need to drink hot pumpkin spice lattes in 80-degree August weather, I”ll never know.
While fall merchandise is not the same thing as holiday merchandise, shortly after the infamous pumpkin spice lattes became available at coffee shops, Halloween costumes were suddenly on the racks at department stores. Wal-Mart began filling its candy aisle to the point where it looks like it will burst any second.
It”s only a matter of time before the candy bags and plastic pumpkins are replaced with frozen turkeys and pilgrim streamers, and we all know that before Thanksgiving is even over many Americans will already be halfway through their preparation for Christmas.
Erin Bamer
The growing hype before Halloween and Thanksgiving are really just warm ups when considering how insane
people and businesses go before Christmas. Some companies can”t even wait until November to start pulling out their December deals. I”m looking at you, Wal-Mart, and your entire aisle devoted to colorful tree ornaments.
Although I can admit that our country”s craze and commercialization toward Christmas and the other holidays is a bit silly, it stopped bothering me a long time ago.
The biggest argument against the over-commercialization of the holiday season is that it misses the point of the actual holidays” purpose – but I”m not so sure that”s true.
I love the holiday season. I get excited when I see black and orange decorations available for purchase, because I know it means that I”ve survived the three-month dry spell between Independence Day and the next big annual holiday, Halloween. Holidays give people something to look forward to.
I don”t think all of the early holiday merchandise misses the point at all, really. To me, the point of these holidays, especially Christmas, is to bring happiness to others. I don”t know about the rest of the world, but all the beautiful decorations and yes, the sales, certainly make me happy.
And honestly, it helps that all the advertisements are so hard to miss that it”s impossible for me or anyone else to forget about the presents we have to buy for our loved ones.
I can be optimistic about the over-commercialization of most holidays, but there is one event during the season that I will admit rubs me the wrong way. Black Friday is the worst.
Until recently, I could at least stand the existence of this retail event. However, like the other actual holidays of the season, America has begun its celebration of Black Friday earlier each year. At this point, multiple businesses will open their stores for Black Friday sales during Thanksgiving, which is repulsive and actually does miss the point of the holiday.
I can”t do much about Black Friday though, except refrain from participating and stay positive about the other holidays, because this really is a wonderful time of year.
The holiday season is a great time for everyone. Students get a break from school and can reconnect with family and friends we haven”t seen since the summer. A little extra decoration around town shouldn”t mar the experience for anyone.
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ErinBamer