According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas every year. Christmas may be one of the most popular holidays but how early is too early to start celebrating?
While some people to choose to begin the festivities before Halloween, others wait until Christmas Eve. Before can decide when to start celebrating Christmas, let’s define what marks the celebration of the holiday. The majority of people consider hanging up lights, setting up a Christmas tree, and playing Christmas music the marks of, arguably, the biggest holiday of the seasons. A downside to a very early celebration is not letting Thanksgiving have a chance of celebration. The holiday season is to have things to look forward to, and if you glaze over the other holidays, it drags out the winter.
The other major downside to the early celebration is holiday burnout. Once it hits the middle of December, those Christmas bops just don’t hit as hard as they would have if you would have waited, and it loses the hype by doing that. Overexposure makes the novelty and festivity of having lights and a tree up lose its spark and meaning.
When done correctly, one begins celebrating Christmas no earlier than December 1st and no later than December 15th. This is the sweet spot for Christmas music to build up excitement that maintains itself without feeling too long or too short. By putting up the trees and lights up earlier, it makes the shorter time more special and meaningful.