Smoke Signals

As we move into November, people, stores, and even websites seem to have jumped straight into the Christmas season, but isn’t it too early? This week Smoke Signals asked EC students when they allow themselves to celebrate Christmas.

This is clearly a multi-faceted issue with passionate opinions on every side. The average American decorates for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. However, lately it seems Americans have started celebrating Christmas the day after Halloween or even before!

These believers say that the whole month of December is not enough time to put up the decorations or sufficiently celebrate. Even stores start putting out the Christmas decorations in October-November, and–exciting enough–Starbucks puts out their new Christmas menu November 7.

However some say it is too early to celebrate. Such people assert that beginning the Christmas season so early in November forces us to skip Thanksgiving, which is sadly underappreciated as a whole. It also makes Christmas seem less special by extending the season so unnecessarily. But how do EC students feel?

60% of EC students answered that they wait until after Thanksgiving to celebrate Christmas. They contend that this still allows for plenty of time to decorate for and enjoy the season while still keeping it special and maintaining the value of Thanksgiving.

25% say they celebrate after December 1st because it only seems appropriate to celebrate a holiday in its given month. Critics of this stance, though, argue that the month of December is too busy to add the pressure of decorating.

Despite what the condition of local stores and coffee shops would indicate, only 18% of those polled say it’s acceptable to celebrate Christmas after Halloween. They went so far as to say they enjoy decorating immediately after returning from trick-or-treating.

The majority of the Smoke Signals staff agrees with the majority of the student population: let’s keep Christmas special and only celebrate after Thanksgiving!