Many love to get into the holiday spirit when Christmas season comes around, but often these celebrations occur far before the so-called ‘Christmas season.’ A great deal of people start celebrating Christmas just after Halloween, in which they bring out the holiday socks and shirts and begin listening to Christmas music. This overloading on the Christmas spirit, though, diminishes the other holidays.

“I would say people who start celebrating Christmas before or right after Halloween are a little… joyous. I feel like the perfect time is around November, getting close to Thanksgiving Day,” said junior Flavio Diaz, who works at the Mundelein TJ Maxx and HomeGoods where he can witness the early start of the Christmas season.

Being merry and bright is not always terrible, but many retailers and companies are setting up decorations and products to purchase in their stores quite early. Macy’s, for example, has had its classic ornaments and trees out in front of its store in the Vernon Hills shopping mall since the early weeks of October. May I repeat that–October– before Halloween itself has even passed.

Some find it even too early to start celebrating before the end of November.

“It’s annoying [that] people are already decorating houses and listening to music when Thanksgiving hasn’t even come yet,” senior Mason Shultz said.

In addition to this complaint, the shopping day known as Black Friday, which occurs the day after Thanksgiving to persuade consumers to buy gifts at cheaper prices for the next upcoming holiday, is now being advertised the Thursday night before, also known as Thanksgiving night. This reduces the celebrations for family and friends.

And just a few days later, we are hit with Cyber Monday, a well-known tradition where all the deals are displayed online and at cheaper costs. Where was the time to simply enjoy Thanksgiving?

Understandably, the Christmas season is one of the most chaotic and successful seasons for most companies, especially those like TJ Maxx and HomeGoods because of their wide Christmas selection, which then leads to a greater profit for the company.

“I think it’s smart that the store starts this early just because of how fast stuff sells and how excited it gets people to go holiday shopping,” Diaz said.

In contrast to the larger-named companies, some local or smaller businesses seem to prefer to decorate after Thanksgiving, in which each holiday is celebrated for the time frame it deserves.

“We decorate mostly with lights and ornaments around the whole restaurant,” said Sophia Gilardi, junior and daughter of the owners of the restaurant Tina G’s. “We also normally decorate around the week of Thanksgiving because we like to do it when my family comes in town, so we can all decorate together.”

As presented, these holidays are for a time of cheer and family in which the gift-giving and present-buying shouldn’t be the center of attention in addition to all the glitz and glamour that come along with the season nowadays.

“I think that some people diminish the value of Thanksgiving by celebrating Christmas too early because Thanksgiving is about everyone coming together and being thankful for what we have, and people who celebrate too early tend to skip over that,” Gilardi said.

Without the true meaning of Christmas being celebrated, then what is there to celebrate? Thanksgiving is a time to spend with friends and family and to be thankful for all that you have, but thanks to the early Christmas celebrations, this feels forgotten more and more each year.

And it shouldn’t be.

Sophomore Jodi Lawson said, “It’s a time to show thanks for what we have and show appreciation for our family and friends, which is important for everyone.”