I would like to take a moment to vent.

Since when did Christmas season start right after Halloween? Whatever happened to Thanksgiving? Whatever happened to “the holidays,” which used to include Thanksgiving?

I’m not only bitter because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I just don’t understand why Christmas just keeps becoming more and more commercialized. It’s starting to take over the entire year.

I understand that the economy is bad, and stores are worried that people won’t buy anything from them, so they’re trying to get people to spread out the shopping. But since when is Christmas entirely about presents? That’s exactly why Christmas season keeps being pushed earlier and earlier every year: shopping.

The thing is, it seems like everyone is jumping onto the bandwagon. One of the local radio stations that plays only Christmas music starting on Thanksgiving is *already* switching its playlist. Gift of Lights, one of the light displays that gets put up in the park every year, opens to the public today. My friend Crystal told me she saw Christmas things sneaking into stores BEFORE Halloween.

Please, just let me enjoy Thanksgiving. And, please, let me not be annoyed at Christmas this year. I don’t want to be pressured into buying 10 million presents, and when I do, don’t let me depressed about how much money I’m spending.

I had a friend in college who was a Jehovah’s Witness. She didn’t celebrate holidays. The reason her religion doesn’t celebrate holidays, she told me, is because all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the holiday take away from the actual meaning. I think this is especially true of Christmas. Somehow, it’s become to be all about presents and not so much about what it’s really about.