The holiday season is about putting aside differences, coming together, and celebrating family, friendship, and love. Everything about it is joyful and peaceful.
Well, almost everything. There is one subject, for those who celebrate Christmas, that sparks up anything but feelings of goodwill and gratitude. It is highly contentious, burns bridges, and can get you uninvited from the family Christmas dinner. I am, of course, talking about the age-old question: When are we allowed to start listening to Christmas music?
This highly debated topic has a few common answers. Some people believe that you’re allowed to listen right after Halloween. These eager folk argue that the second it’s Nov. 1, Mariah Carey’s voice may permeate the airwaves, and the celebration of Christmas can begin. Since there are no notable Thanksgiving songs, they have to fill the holiday void somehow.
The other widely held belief is that you must hold off until after Thanksgiving. These more conservative people believe that good things come to those who wait, and the holiday season is not yet upon us. They argue that since it’s not even December yet, and there’s a major American holiday between Halloween and Christmas, we have to wait to turn on Nat King Cole.
Of course, there are other arguments. Some believe that we can listen to Christmas music whenever we wish. To those people, I see and hear you, even though your take is wildly unpopular. But for argument’s sake, we’re sticking to the most heated sides of the debate. The true crux of this argument is whether we listen after Halloween or after Thanksgiving.
Now, of course, the politician’s answer would be to say that you can start listening to Christmas music whenever it makes you happy. And in actuality, I agree with this. Music listening habits vary from person to person, and if you start listening to Christmas music on precisely Nov. 15 every year, who am I to judge? As long as it fills you with Christmas cheer, who cares?
But having that be my answer would be no fun. So, even though my inbox will surely be flooded with hate mail soon, here is the correct answer to this age-old conundrum:
You’re allowed to start listening to Christmas music on Nov. 1. You can only do so sparsely, however, and must up your listening levels after Thanksgiving.
Let’s follow this train of thought. We have music that we associate with different seasons of the year. In the summer, we listen to our upbeat artists that remind us of the warm weather, oceans and lakes, and carefree fun. As school comes around, we turn to our fall playlists, marked with more mellow music to match the leaves changing and the weather cooling.
For Halloween, we have a few songs to listen to, but we only really listen to those on the day itself. There aren’t enough hits like “Thriller” and “Somebody’s Watching Me” to last for a whole month. So, after we’ve been listening to our fall music since late August and Halloween has passed, there’s not a whole lot of seasonal music to listen to.
As said earlier, there are no Thanksgiving bangers. And it’s pretty hard to go back to listening to solely fall music when the trees are bare and puffer jackets are out. Enjoying your “Autumn Vibes” playlist can only last so long. So, the ideal combination mixes the fall music with sprinkles of Christmas in there.
Thanksgiving varies year by year. This year in particular, Thanksgiving is at the tail-end of November. This means less than a month to listen to your favorite Christmas classics. Other years, we can start a week earlier and listen while still well in November. A deadline that changes each year does not need to be severe.
But most importantly, listening to a Christmas song here and there gets everyone in the mood for the upcoming holiday season. Especially as you get older, the magic of Christmas fades. Pajama days at school with hot chocolate and The Polar Express have been replaced with grim final exams and stressful job applications.
Starting to listen to Christmas music a little bit earlier helps bring back the magic. These songs can invoke feelings of cheer and innocence to get us through the trials of reality. Policing when people can access that joy again is very Grinch-like.
The one caveat is that listening to Christmas music too soon can be detrimental to restoring the magic of the Christmas season. If you start listening too early, you can be burnt out of Frank Sinatra before December even hits. The whole point of this music is to get you in the holiday mood, so if you listen to it throughout the year, you forfeit the association with that magical time of year.
So, my answer is to be somewhere in the middle. You may catch me listening to “Jingle Bell Rock” after Halloween, but only here and there. It serves as a little boost to get through November. Then the true wonder of childhood can be felt again. Listening to too much Christmas music too soon will spoil the fun, but getting a head start will prepare you for the magical season to come.