Decking the Halls 39 Days Early, or Just on Time?

By Melanie Meisner

Photo+Credit%3A+Melanie+Meisner

Photo Credit: Melanie Meisner

With 39 days left until Santa rides his sleigh into Montvale and Woodcliff Lake, the drug store CVS, along with many other stores across the nation, are already ahead of schedule selling Christmas and winter themed accessories. The following editorial reflects the days and opinions of the Students of Pascack Hills counting down until Christmas.

Pascack Hills Senior Emily Friedman believes the earlier the first snowfall, the better. The fastly approaching holiday season is only “getting you in the mood for the most wonderful time of the year.” During the holiday season, Emily looks forward to going on vacations and spending time with her sister who is currently at college in Florida.

Kristina Hughes, from the Pascack Hills Class of 2016, agrees with Emily that the sooner the Christmas season, the better. For Kristina, the holiday season means getting a break from eight-in-the-morning classes at James Madison University and coming home to see close friends and family.

On the contrary, though, the holiday season is no longer right around the corner and is already appearing in households all over town. Some students at Pascack Hills, along with real-world workers, were surprised I even questioned them about Christmas 52 days before the actual date of the holiday.

Sophomore Payton Moran has had her Christmas tree perked up since Halloween weekend. Payton believes “[Christmas is] coming too early, we haven’t even gotten the chance to enjoy fall or Thanksgiving yet.”

The holiday season is not just coming too early for students, but for store employees too. When asked if the holiday season was appearing too fast, Niko, a Montvale CVS employee, said, “Christmas is coming way ahead of schedule. You should see what’s in the stock room that’s not even out on the shelves yet. Thousands of dollars of merchandise.”

Along with Payton and Niko, Sophomore Sophie Mazzei agrees with the fact that “Halloween just ended and I’m still in the transitional period into Thanksgiving.” Sophie feels she needs time to enjoy fall and the foliage going on around her before diving straight into winter.

Pascack Hills alumni Ryan Murphy agrees with Sophie, saying Christmas is coming too early because “Thanksgiving didn’t even happen yet.”

On November 6th, social media entrepreneur @thefatjewish instagrammed a photo of a man holding a sign “Stop Premature Christmas Decorating”. @thefatjewish captioned the photo, “IT’S THE FIRST WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER YOU GUYS…”. Celebrities, employees, and some Pascack Hills students agree that Christmas needs to wait it’s turn and let Thanksgiving pass before it can take the headlines.

It may seem sooner than usual, but premature Christmas advertisment and shopping has been going on since the Victorian era. In South Carolina of 1885, a real estate group called Wilhite and Wilhite sent out an advertisement saying to keep in mind, Christmas is coming and to shop now (Slate).

Overall, the holiday season is approaching faster than it should be. Post-Halloween through Thanksgiving, families should be able to focus on eachother, food, and the Macy’s annual Thanksgiving day parade. Once the clock strikes midnight on November 25, Black Friday allows the beginning of the holiday shopping madness. America’s countdown to Christmas has come way too early this year, and should accurately start at “ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas” for the showing of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, playing December 1 at 3:30 pm.