That Time of Year...

I saw the decorations in Wal-Mart the day before Halloween, snuggled back between the flimsy costumes, party favors, and orange exterior lights.  There, lined up in tight rows like a shipment of sarcophagi were the pre-lit, pretend Christmas trees.  The following afternoon, my television told me that Christmas cheer is available with Glade candles, and the new animated version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was being released on November 6th.  Naturally, that question we all hear so frequently danced in my head:

Good heavens.  Isn't it a bit too early to begin the Christmas fanfare?

The answer:  Hell no.

I'd actually prefer to have a perpetual, year-long celebration of Christmas.  You all know the moment that exists at the edge of the Christmas morning magic, as much as we all try to battle its arrival each and every year:  That we'll eventually have to move our presents into our rooms and put them away.  That effectively ends the whole damn thing.  The food starts to look a bit off, the tree is now a nuisance, and someone has to get the ladder out and take the damn lights down.  Arguably, the only thing remaining is the egg-nog.  It still looks good.  It always looks good.

No more of this "Twelve Days of Christmas" nonsense.  Let's commit and make it the "Twelve Months of Christmas."  A year of making others smile and hopeful, being cheerful and generous, eating good food, listening to the 24-hour Christmas Carol radio station, being with your family, the smiles, the lights...it's a damn good time if you ask me.  The Christmas decorations, commercials, and music can never start soon enough.  If we could only get our grocery stores to stock egg-nog year round, all would be right with the world. 

Additionally, the Twelve Months of Christmas would make it much easier to identify the truly cranky people sulking about out there.  Should you encounter any of them in your Christmas adventures...smile big at them, wish them an extra-happy Christmas, and give them a big hug if you're brave enough.

They hate that.