With decorations put out months early and Thanksgiving prioritized less and less, Christmas has slowly overtaken our lives. Although Christmas is not celebrated until the 25th of December, companies nationwide have taken advantage of the festive season and the craze surrounding it, promoting the holidays earlier year by year. As of 2022, a barrage of Christmas decorations were spotted in stores as early as late October, raising questions concerning the rising amount of Christmas trees and fake snowflakes so early on in the year. When asked to share their opinions, Marriotts Ridge students are particularly polarized about when it is appropriate to put up a tree. Some believe that celebrating Christmas this early in the year is completely fine while others are vexed by the eclipse overshadowing both Thanksgiving and Halloween.
Immediately upon getting the chance to share, Sophomore Gwen Montgomery jumped to share her frustrations about how Christmas should not be celebrated in October.
¨It’s still spooky season!” she exclaimed.
Others hold firmly to the belief that Thanksgiving should be celebrated to the same degree as every other holiday, but were in the minority opinion compared to the vast amount of people that preferred Christmas.  On another hand, a small majority was quickly found in those who were increasingly frustrated that Halloween, not Thanksgiving, had started to suffer from the impacts of an early Christmas.  ¨I hate people who put [up] Christmas decorations in October. It takes all the fun out of Halloween.¨ Sophomore Mahika Juneja explained.
Her thoughts stem from Halloween being an anticipated celebration centered around thematic costumes and decorations. However, when Christmas is forcefully added into the mix, it disrupts the flow of things, taking emphasis off of the specialty of the October season, making things less exciting for everyone involved.
Unlike these students, some people don’t feel strongly about when people prepare for Christmas. They still favor Christmas over other holidays, and are generally impartial when this debate is brought up.
¨Honestly, I don’t really care [about Thanksgiving/Halloween],¨ freshman Remi Pi gave voice to the opinion.
Among those against an early Christmas, there are some that still favor Christmas. They believe that mixing Christmas into seasons dedicated to other holidays by celebrating it so early in the year ruins the spirit that comes with December and the holiday season as a whole, not only just hurting Thanksgiving and Halloween.
“…It’s not like I’m insisting that stores start putting up Thanksgiving decorations. If it [Christmas] is celebrated directly after Thanksgiving, it loses a lot of its specialty,” sophomore Emma Kim retorted.
While it’s still unclear as to whether or not stores will continue to keep doing this for the sake of earning a little extra revenue, their decisions are controversial to say the least. As people begin to see more and more red and green rather than orange and black, they can only hope that some light is shed on holidays favored outside of Christmas.