It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

When I was a kid, Thanksgiving Day was the official kickoff of holiday season. This meant that would be the day that the Christmas and holiday commercial would begin airing on TV, and radio stations would weave holiday tunes into their playlists.

Times have changed. Retailers slowly pushed and pushed past the traditional Thanksgiving start for their commercials. Now you start seeing Christmas ads around Halloween. (It could be worse. One year, when I was in high school, I remember a Christmas commercial running on Columbus Day.)

For years I really hated that. I was like, one holiday at a time, people! Poor Thanksgiving got shafted. And no, I don't want to think about holiday gifts with 60 more shopping days 'til Christmas, thank you very much.

I've had a change of heart. I still think that Columbus Day is too early. But I like the commercials starting at Halloween now. I bring this up today because I got a couple of comments on my new Facebook profile picture (scene from A Charlie Brown Christmas), critical of my choice to give in to the Christmas cyborgs.

I'm a free person with free will, and seeing a Christmas commercial on Nov. 10 doesn't bind me to buy anything. My family grew up solidly working class anyway, and we don't go crazy with gifts. It really is the most wonderful time of the year. Two months of holiday buildup is great ambiance, and allows us to put life in perspective, rather than fight over silly stuff that isn't worth fighting over. I do agree that the radio stations that go 24/7 with the holiday music are a little much, but I can always change the station.

So I'm not going to complain when Target starts putting a Santa Claus hat on Bullseye the Dog. I'm going to enjoy the 16.67 percent of the year when we celebrate holiday cheer.