The familiar sounds of holiday tunes can now be heard on the radio, and more houses are lined with Christmas lights. With Christmas lurking right around the corner, a multitude of people consider December to be their favorite time of year. The question always stands as to when to begin the celebration of the holiday season.

Stores are culpable of premature holiday influences, one of the main causes of Christmas spirit. They encourage customers to buy everything from decorations to holiday-themed food as early as October, creating early onset hype for the December holiday. Many stores bring out their first Christmas displays around the time of Halloween, and they remain throughout the month of December. Starting sales at this time is too early and should instead start around the end of November instead. Early sales create premature excitement for the far off holiday, and thus anticipation burns out by the time December 25 finally comes around.

Moreover, many radio stations also generate Christmas spirit in listeners. For example, the popular Metro Detroit radio station 100.3 WNIC begins playing Christmas music earlier than most. It played its first Christmas song, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, performed by Andy Williams, on November 2 at 8:35 a.m. If people begin to listen to Christmas music this early in the year, it loses its special quality for the real holiday season.

In some households, people are already decorating for Christmas. In November, they can be found putting up Christmas lights or decorating their trees. Beginning to celebrate and decorate makes the holiday season a little less special. People may celebrate in different ways, whether it is putting up lights or baking festive cookies, but celebrating the holiday season should be timely, not too early in the year.