By: Kara Haselton

It’s November. The weather is perfect. The sweaters can finally come out. The leaves are changing. You’re making plans to go to a pumpkin patch, maybe you’ll even bake a pumpkin pie.

But wait, what is that you hear?

Is that…christmas music?

What an abomination!

You only have a few more weeks until you get a break from school…but last I checked, it’s Thanksgiving break, not Christmas break!

What is this nonsense?

I’m just trying to enjoy this fall atmosphere and think about all the food I’m going to eat, games I’m going to play, and you’re trying to interrupt my favorite season by starting Christmas already? I love Christmas just as much as the next person–Christmas music, Christmas lights, Christmas sweaters, Christmas movies, Christmas cookies, the works. But if you think that I’m going to let my love for one holiday overshadow another holiday, you are so wrong.

Let me give you an example of why I feel this way. What if your two best friends, Stevie and John, had birthdays over the course of two months. Say one is in April and the other in May, respectively. You guys get super hype for birthdays and go all out for weeks leading up to their special day. Now, John has ridiculously fun parties, and you look forward to them every year. That doesn’t mean that Stevie’s parties aren’t fun, just maybe that John’s are better. Regardless, you wouldn’t dare let your excitement for John’s birthday and his celebrations overshadow Stevie’s! That would just be plain rude! You wouldn’t start putting up John’s birthday decorations before Stevie has even had her birthday, that would be inconsiderate and disrespectful to Stevie, right?

Stevie is Thanksgiving and John is Christmas. Why would you put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving has even happened?

But the day after Thanksgiving? Go get your christmas tree and your lights and your blowups and your mistletoe and decorate your house; I’m all for that. But don’t let the purest holiday be eclipsed just because you think the next holiday is so great.

It’s a time to decorate your house with pumpkins and leaves. It’s a time to make and bake goodies while the leaves outside are turning beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and red. It’s a time to sit around with your family and just appreciate that you have people in your life, even if you don’t agree with them all the time. It’s a time to think about all the things you have to be thankful for and remember how blessed everyone is to just be alive. Don’t wish that time away.

Stevie and Thanksgiving deserve your love and attention just as much as John and Christmas.