No, it’s still not time to decorate for Christmas 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – and I don’t like it. 

I drive by several houses each day with decorated yards. Some still have giant skeletons and spiders, lingering far too long from Halloween, while others already hold twinkling lights, and houses adorned with wreaths and garland. It seems we’re stuck in holiday purgatory, and nobody knows what to do. Just put a Santa Claus hat on the skeleton and let’s call it a year; buy a green top hat and let it ride until March. 

I was sweeping off my front porch recently and I looked down to see that I had left the Christmas rug out all year. Does that count as decorating early? This is the most wonderful time of the year to be a scrooge. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, but I’ll wait until after Thanksgiving to get into the spirit. 

Thanksgiving doesn’t get the appreciation that it deserves. It has been reduced to just a day off work and the starting line for the Christmas shopping season. Modern Thanksgiving has its roots in the Great Depression. Thanksgiving had traditionally been recognized as the last Thursday in November. In 1939, there were five Thursdays on the November calendar and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, eager to appease the interests of a worried and worn-out retail sector, bumped Thanksgiving up a week. That year there was an extra week of Christmas shopping. 

Republicans of the time decried to move as an affront to the memory of Abraham Lincoln, who had established the precedent of Thanksgiving. For a while Thanksgiving was known as Franksgiving. It took three years for Congress to pass the joint resolution establishing Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November. 

See? Government dysfunction is nothing new.

I’ve heard tell of a time when people didn’t even put up a tree until the day before Christmas, and by New Year’s it was long gone. What happened to that tradition? I seem to be one of the few left in the world who refrain from all things Christmas until December.  

There is much research that suggests decorating for the holidays early is good for mental health. Trimming the tree and hanging stockings evokes nostalgia for a lot of people, which releases serotonin and other beneficial chemicals in the brain. The decorations also encourage general feelings of happiness, helping fight off the depression that comes during the coldest time of the year. Decorating also encourages physical activity, because you can’t do it sitting down, and social activity. Someone to hold the ladder while stringing lights on the eaves is encouraged, every fall needs a witness. 

I could use a positive mental boost. Maybe I should abandon my humbug ways and embrace the spirit of the season earlier. Perhaps it is time to have the halls decked before the turkey goes into the oven. 

But then again, I’m happy enough, and I think I’ll wait a couple more weeks.