OPINION: How soon is too soon?

As many people know, Halloween is my favorite holiday. I’ve always loved the spooky and creepy, my obsession with vampires starting very young. Because of this love, I have a hard time only having Halloween decor up in October. Only a month for the best holiday? No thanks.

Instead, I started pulling out the Halloween decor boxes the last week of August. Using Labor Day as a kind of decorating day, I got seven strands of purple lights up in my apartment and sorted my costumes. Now all I have left are the signs and pumpkins and such, which requires a little bit of living room cleaning first!

Despite knowing my love of Halloween, some of my friends expressed horror when I excitedly mentioned decorating in August. First of all, it was the end of August, so it’s not quite so bad. When I was in school, the events calendar went: Fourth of July, back to school, Halloween. Well, now that I’m out of school, it goes straight from Fourth of July to Halloween. I even posted on social media about how the fifth of July is the start of the spooky season now.

I get it, people want to enjoy their summer. They want to bask in the sun, go to the beach, etc. Maybe I’d feel that way in other circumstances, but right now, summer is an insanely busy time for me. Between work and personal life, I have no time to rest. In fact, in August, I was not in Creston for a single weekend. Labor Day weekend was the only weekend I was even in state that month.

To me, along with the spooky fun, the time around Halloween is much more chill and relaxing. I can get cozy and watch a spooky movie, or get bundled up and find my way through a corn maze or haunted house. Summer feels much more intense, with everyone doing as much as they can to make the most of the weather.

And I feel like people can’t complain too much with my early celebration, as my Halloween music rarely comes out. Christmas, on the other hand, is a completely different deal. Maybe controversial, but I don’t care much about Thanksgiving. Once Halloween is over, my birthday comes around. Then, we get to celebrate pre-Christmas on the fourth Thursday of November.

Don’t get me wrong, I do have some fall decor that goes up once Halloween is over. Most of the pumpkins stay, but skeletons and ghosts are replaced by turkeys and woodland animals. The purple lights become white fairy lights. I briefly enjoy this time, but it’s really just me gearing up for Christmas.

In my family, the time after we eat our Thanksgiving dinner is when the Christmas tree goes up. I will listen to Christmas music on my own before that, but once we’ve eaten on Thanksgiving, Christmas music goes in full swing to those around me too. (Sorry Mandy.)

I think this is a great time to get started on Christmas. It’s a nice time for the family to get together before Christmas and plan for the December holiday. We eat and exchange names for the cousin gift exchange, figure out where we’re celebrating for the year. Once the tree is up, we get prepared for Black Friday shopping, the start of buying Christmas presents for the names we drew earlier that day. I really feel that this is just a pre-Christmas celebration, at least for me!

I get why people are annoyed with skipping over Thanksgiving. For some people, it’s a much bigger celebration. However, in my eyes, the overall goal of most holidays is simply to spend time with family and appreciate each other. My family finds incredible joy from the Christmas season, so we start it earlier than others. You are under no requirement to do the same.

A large argument during the holiday season is about when someone can start celebrating; how soon is too soon to decorate? I say, do whatever makes you happy. If you love this holiday and want to spend extra weeks surrounded by decor and theme, do that. If you’d rather take a week for each holiday and nothing more, than do that. Don’t yuck someone else’s yum just because it’s not for you.

My apartment will be full of Halloween decor by the end of the week, and Christmas will officially come to town the week of Thanksgiving. The only people forced to endure my holiday cheer are friends, family and coworkers. Plus, they are not required to take a step inside my holiday wonderland of an apartment. When it comes to celebrating a holiday, I don’t think there is a “too soon.” Whatever makes you happy, whatever feels right, that’s what you should do. So happy Halloween from me to you, even if you’re a Scrooge.