For me, personally, I think it’s a little too soon.
I’ve been in three different Marquette stores over the past three days, and in each and every one of them Christmas music was being played. I heard Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” in each of the stores, I heard different versions of “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” in each of the stores, and in one of the stores in particular—I won't mention them by name, because (normally) I like shopping there--I heard two different versions of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” played within 20 minutes of each other.
I mean, I know these stores are trying to get people into the holiday mood so they’ll spend their holiday money with them. But we just finished Halloween. The temperatures have been at or near the 60s the past few days. A lot of the trees around here still have their leaves (and are, in some cases, still green). Is it really time to start laying on the Christmas music and the Christmas sales and the Christmas mood, even before Thanksgiving? Don’t we deserve a little bit of a break between, say, Halloween and Turkey Day? I mean, if you start playing Christmas music almost two months before Christmas, doesn’t that rob the music of some of its special power, especially as we get closer to the holiday but find ourselves increasing sick of the tunes? I like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas”—I really do--but if I’ve heard it three times in the last three days, a span of three days a month and a half before the holiday itself, how many times am I gonna hear it before the holidays are done? And how soon will it be before I don’t wanna hear it again?
Like I said, maybe it’s me. I know there are people out there who just love Christmas music, and who can’t get enough of it, holiday or not. There are even radio stations around the country (including two in Marquette) that start playing Christmas music (and nothing but Christmas music) in late September or early October, and will get some pretty good ratings because of it. But does it really make sense to start listening to (or being forced to listen to) Christmas music when you’re still wondering what to do with the rest of your kid's Halloween stash, or what you might make for Thanksgiving dinner?
I dunno; I don’t get it. But this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been out of the ordinary about stuff like this. Maybe it is normal or practical or fun to listen to Christmas music two or three months before the holiday. Maybe it is normal or practical or fun to listen to Christmas music while you’re in a store two or three months before the holiday. Maybe it drives sales up; maybe it puts people in a good mood. So maybe I’m the outlier here. It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened, and it certainly won’t be the last.
All I know is that, for me, the Christmas music can sit on the shelf just a little while longer.
****
By the way, don't believe me when I say that most of our trees up here still have leaves and are partially green? Here's a picture taken yesterday at 1:54 pm--
Yup; that's how Marquette now looks in mid-November in a post climate-change world. I have a feeling that people who grew up here 50 or 100 years ago would be stunned.
No comments:
Post a Comment