I just realized yesterday, in a work conversation about "wait, is anyone seeing patients the day after Thanksgiving?," that that's in two weeks. Holy crap. Thanksgiving is on the earliest possible day this year.
Which means many of my neighbors are going to have their Christmas lights firmly affixed to their houses on November 23. Now, I have no problem with Christmas lights per se. They're pretty and colorful and festive. I have a bit more problem with giant inflatable Santas and such, but as much as they offend my retinas, they make the little kids happy, so that's cool. I do, however, have a problem with all this decorating happening in mid-November and then the lights coming off the house on December 26. We're not celebrating the freaking shopping season, we're celebrating Christmas. Which has twelve days.
Excuse me while I drag my Luddite-holiday ass off to grumble with the other crotchedy and out-of-step purists.
xoxo
5 comments:
I had an epiphany ;-) years ago, when I started in my mind differentiating between the holiday and the season, as in, the winter season. We hit the darkest night of the year (earliest darkness, anyway) along about the first or second week in December, and there's something about driving home from work in the dark that just sucks. So when I see the lights (not the inflatable Santas, those are ridiculous no matter what day it is) I let myself enjoy them for the beautiful sight that they are. Because they are. Beautiful. And I leave mine up into January now because, until it's daylight again when I'm leaving the office, there ought to be some on when I get home.
Go ahead. Make fun of my epiphanies. I'm tough. (Sorta.) I can take it. :-PPPP
ANYWAY! I have absolutely no problem with lights up in early December. I take issss-ue with lights up on November 23. And I especially take issss-ue with lights down the day after Christmas.
They should be up until New Year's at the very least, and preferably till January 6, which is the *real* end of Christmas, at least if you're celebrating it as a religious or even cultural holiday. But people who put them up on 11/23 are sick of them by Christmas dinner.
I'm ok with 'em as soon as we move the clocks back (early November, please don't hate me) which is about a month before the earliest darkness of the year, and I don't mind 'em at all at least a month after (well accommodating epiphany) too. In fact, I kinda think leaving 'em up until MLK Day gives a convenient alternative use for the Monday holiday, and also gives us a chance to hang Pats Super Bowl paraphernalia in its place.
The ancients had it worked out way better. They began their winter holidays around the time of the earliest sunset and ended them when the latest sunrises ended (consult your almanac). Of course, they didn't "have" to shop.
The true Tao of holiday lights is leaving them up all the time. For half the year, you're late taking them down, but then you are early getting them up the other half.
Don't laugh, but I have a recurrent dream in which I suddenly realize it's April or August and my Xmas tree is still up, and I am deeply embarrassed.
Usually when I'm subconsciously freaking out about something I'm procrastinating on, natch.
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