Story by Valentina Garcia
Image courtesy of Colagniac.com

It’s that time of the year again. Even if it doesn’t appear to be, the holiday season is upon us.

It’s easy to forget the holiday season is coming up since there is no snow on the ground and the weather has been extremely nice as of late. In fact, your only reminder of the holidays might be stores putting up their Christmas displays.

Hearing people complaining about this, holiday displays being set up before Thanksgiving has ended, is normal; it has been a source of frustration for many year after year.

I don’t see why or how people can be so passionate about this, or why it is such a big deal.

First of all, it’s not like Thanksgiving has a certain decoration that is used. We don’t decorate our homes with turkeys, except for our dining tables. It’s not like by decorating for Christmas we leave Thanksgiving decorations out of the loop.

In my family, we were used to decorating for Christmas the day right before Thanksgiving. The friends and family we had over for Thanksgiving dinner would then talk about Christmas plans, and by the time the night ended everyone left with their plans for Christmas finalized. And as a bonus, the decorations made the house look special. Christmas decorations have a way of making everything magical.

Decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving really does seem like a socially acceptable thing to do. If you go downtown you will find trees lit up with Christmas lights. It’s kind of a funny sight, to see the trees with lights but no snow, but that’s what Grand Rapids looks like currently. In fact, most of the small, cute boutiques downtown also have their window displays showcasing “Winter Wonderlands.” Kendall College helped decorate the shops of some stores, and there’s actually a contest going on where you can vote for your favorite shop display (Bianka’s Bridal window is absolutely gorgeous, although I guess this was bound to happen because it’s a bridal shop and their dresses are gorgeous).

I don’t see why people get upset over Christmas decorations being up before Thanksgiving is over. If the time of the year has arrived it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not like it’s October still, it’s November, and it’s not the beginning of November either, it’s late November. There’s no snow yet, but there could be. If people are ready to showcase their holiday spirit and have waited months to do so, I don’t see why they should be told to hold off on the decorating and  give Thanksgiving it’s space. Give Thanksgiving its space by taking time to be grateful. If you’re ready to deck out your home in Christmas cheer, go ahead; just don’t keep those decorations year round. There’s nothing more sad then looking at Christmas decorations on a home during summertime. Decorate when you please, just do us all a favor and take it all down after the Epiphany.