It's beginning to...
Well, it’s the first week of November, and you know what that means – the holidays are here. And god help us.
Already, Christmas commercials are airing on TV (you know the ones, where the family looks a little too happy). At last check, City Market hadn’t put decorations outside, but a very helpful store clerk said they can be found on Aisle 10. And just the other day, we saw someone dressed as Will Ferrell from “Elf,” though, admittedly, that could have been a Halloween costume.
All this to say, we’re not anti-Christmas here at The Telegraph. But we are anti putting up decorations at 12:01 a.m., Nov. 1. Since when did one day of the year extend to an overbearing, two-month inescapable hell of tinsel and holiday jingles?
So, of course, we took to the internet to learn more and discovered there’s actually a Wikipedia page for what’s called the “Christmas creep.” There is also a Reddit page titled: “Why the f*** is there Christmas commercials airing right now WE’RE ON THE SECOND WEEK OF F***ING NOVEMBER” dated Nov. 8, 2021. It’s a fun thread, we recommend it, with exchanges such as:
• “My mother-in-law has the beginning of ‘All I Want for Christmas’ as her text tone. I hear it 24/7 no matter the time of year.”
• One person’s response: “Jesus Christ, that should be a crime.”
Back on Wikipedia, however, there’s a more detailed history of “Christmas creep.”
Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Christmas has infiltrated October and November: money, plain and simple. Businesses see a huge increase in sales with the spending craze that has become synonymous with Christmas. Retailers like Walmart, Target and Costco sell holiday merchandise as early as mid-September.
And it’s not just in the U.S. Countries like the U.K. and Australia have the same issue. (And, to be fair, we’ve been seeing all holiday items, like Easter, out earlier and earlier).
The phenomenon is so prevalent that even Heathline.com (think WebMD) has a page on how to cope with the onslaught of supposed merriment. “You don’t have to be holly and jolly in October,” the health experts assure you. “You can decide when the holiday season starts for you, whether that’s today or Dec. 24.”
Well, that’s a little hard to do with every where in town playing “Frosty the Snowman.” So we have a new suggestion – can we just fast-forward to Snowdown?
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