All of us have noticed that Christmas decorations are up earlier every year. I recently read that retailers are starting to view the first Christmas season as starting immediately after Halloween. Then there is the short Thanksgiving season followed by the second Christmas season. Next year, I fully expect to see Santa ride in on his sleigh on Halloween night accompanied by Casper the Friendly Ghost or a couple of big-eyed minions riding along. I’m not sure how to feel about all this.
I like the four Sundays of Advent as preparation for the spiritual significance of Christmas, and I like the Twelve Days of Christmas beginning on December 25th – Christmas Day, and extending to Epiphany on January 6th. Epiphany celebrates the coming of the Wisemen and the revealing of the Christ Child to the Gentile world.
With Advent, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day on December 26 and the Twelve Days of Christmas, I feel that I get a full celebration of the birth of Jesus, so I am happy to begin Christmas observance after Thanksgiving. Of course, I must be thinking about Christmas already myself or I wouldn’t have written this note, so I guess I can forgive retailers for starting early on their Christmas promotions. Just so long as we remember what the season is all about.