Not a creature was stirring, because it wasn’t even December yet.

Christmas time is arguably one of the greatest times of the year, but it gets a little excessive when decorations for Christmas, or excuse me, the holiday season, are going up in stores before Halloween has passed.

I consider myself a pretty tolerant guy, but don’t forget to throw Squanto and an unknown pilgrim onto the shelves of Giant and Wal-Mart. When I see the likes of Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer alongside Casper and Count Dracula, my excitement for the Christmas—I mean, holiday season goes down a little.

Nothing quite beats the combination of lights, Christmas trees, music, and lit-up Santa Clauses. However, when that combination comes before the month of December and before major holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving,  it begins to lose what makes it so special.  Too often do people get caught up in the materialism of the holiday season. The very fact that people begin to decorate for Christmas in the middle of October displays the material-based ideology of the society in which we live in.

Recently, people have begun to overlook Thanksgiving, a holiday based on family and giving thanks for the blessings in our lives, by instead concentrating on a holiday that people have turned in to a day that is solely based on materialism and getting as many things as they can.

Don’t get me wrong, presents are a great thing, but when the idea of presents and out-doing the neighbors in holiday decorations begin to consume our everyday lives, the sentimental value that is supposed to be at the core of each and every holiday slowly begins to be pushed out of the picture completely.

 Too much Christmas spirit too early in the year takes away from what makes Christmas such a special holiday. People tend overlook the Thanksgiving Holiday to focus on Christmas instead. Even Black Friday, a day set aside for Christmas shopping and the best sales, falls on the day right after Thanksgiving. Before the tryptophan has even set in, people are trampling each other in the Wal-Mart parking lot for the new Call of Duty Black Ops game (which I realize might be a game worth trampling someone for). People need to enjoy Thanksgiving for what it is, and then they can proceed to the Christmas holiday.

  Christmas is a great holiday but its significance pales during the month of December when decorations have been up since before Halloween.