Christmas Decorations :: When Early is Too Early

Christmas(2)Christmas does not come after Halloween.

There. I said it.

Am I the only one who’s noticing the Christmas holidays creeping in closer and closer? Suddenly, the day after Halloween marks the time to take out the tree and lawn decorations. Thanksgiving is the new Black Friday. People are stringing their lights and FA-LA-LA-LA-LA-ing before the Thanksgiving turkey has even graced the table.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas. It’s one of my all time favorite holidays.

Nonetheless, I need a sense of order.

I need to be able to celebrate holidays one at a time. Halloween during the month of October – no problem. Thanksgiving during the month of November – piece of cake. Christmas for December – easy peasy. However, once the holidays start blending together, things get tricky and I start to lose my mind.

No Fall FoliageThe rush from black and orange to red and green has me missing those beautiful autumn colors. Let’s be real, Louisiana has very little fall foliage, and the pumpkins and faux leaf garlands are the closest I will get to a true season change. All I ask is that I have a bit more time to enjoy the view of pumpkins and cornucopias while I sip my pumpkin spice latte and search for pumpkin pie recipes on Pinterest. The early Santas and snowflakes really cramp my style.

Please know that my complaints are not entirely selfish – I am also looking out for my son. To me, early Christmas decorations seem to be a bit unfair. Why?

My child has no sense of time.

If I were to tell him something is going to happen in five minutes, I might as well tell him five years. His concept of time is nothing more than immediate. It’s the same reasoning behind waiting to tell your kids about Disney World until the day of the trip. Children are impatient, especially two-year-olds.

I remember December being an agonizing amount of time to wait for Santa to come to my house. I can only imagine how much more longer the wait would have been if my mom busted out the Christmas tree the day after Halloween, thus increasing my wait time to two months instead of one.

I understand why moms want to decorate as soon as possible. The Christmas holidays are a magical time for our families, and there is nothing more fulfilling than watching your child’s eyes light up when they see the house transformed into a Winter Wonderland. I get it. We do it all for them. But, can we practice a little patience?

Let’s all slow down a bit.

Christmas(1)Every mom juggles a dozen things at once. Every mom feels a little more frazzled when it comes to the holidays. We want to do it all. Not to mention, our schedules keep us busy and hurrying from one event to another. When I finally feel like I have everything together, there’s another thing thrown my way.

In this case, I feel like I survived Halloween only to have to juggle Thanksgiving and Christmas at the same time. It seems to be another new, unrealistic expectation placed on my plate of motherhood.

Nope.

I am going to enjoy the present – the month of November, Thanksgiving, turkeys, cornucopias, pumpkin spice lattes, my son playing in the leaves and saying “gobble gobble” every time he sees a bird, and giving thanks for what I have.

To those of you who want to decorate for Christmas early I say “Good for you, not for me.” My Christmas tree is staying in the attic until after the Thanksgiving turkey.

Jaime Mackey
Originally from Florida, Jaime has lived in Southern Louisiana for most of her life (so, that makes her a local, right?). She currently resides on the Northshore with her husband and son and teaches high school English. An enneagram 5, you'll most likely find her doing hot yoga solo, on her phone researching a random topic or sitting in the comfort of her home with coffee and a book within an arm's reach.

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