The Early Birds Celebrate (And Tout) Christmas Creep
by If Christmas in July doesn’t get you, watch out – that office worker dressed as Santa Claus may appear even in mid-June.
Years ago, while I was grocery shopping at the supermarket (I had to do it, although I’ve dreaded it.) I saw the interior, all bedecked with red and green, Gift cards and merchandise plastered with images of ornaments, baubles, reindeer, and other holiday paraphernalia, loads of stands in the color scheme, and cardboard signs on the ceiling decorated the interior. On the west end of the store, the Christmas Shop (where decorations are sold each holiday season) appeared as if the big-box retailer expanded it in size as I walked around the borders to purchase fish food.
I didn’t hear the theme-compatible muzak piped from the speakers until I browsed through the dairy aisle for soy milk and yogurt. I heard strains of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” as if the Canadian Brass played alongside a Salvation Army volunteer who petitions monetary donations by handbell. I couldn’t believe that the creep was happening in Brandon, very close to home! This situation was as if the television advertisements in red and green had not grasped my goat enough.
But the scope of the Christmas creep recently expanded beyond malls, grocers, radios, and even local high school auditoriums. The Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, an hour northeast of my hometown in Dover, which hosts a popular, nocturnal, seasonal event known as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (The hoopla in the Magic Kingdom includes selected attraction openings, character greetings, a heartwarming parade, and even hot cocoa.), also fell victim to the phenomenon in recent years.
As much as I’m a Disneyphile, that’s a shocker, but it satiates those who want their Disney-filled Yuletide fix free from unruly Pop Warner Little Scholars and Brazilian tour groups who invade the parks each December in the long run. More recently, Disney’s Hollywood Studios followed suit – they used to confine displaying their Osbourne Spectacle of Dancing Lights after Turkey Day, but they pushed it up in early November. Although a boon for those who want less crowded Christmases, it’s an inconvenience to most who want theirs after that fourth Thursday of that said month.
Christmas Creep not only makes the holidays commercial; in fact it simultaneously tickles me and insults me. Although I strongly prefer all the hoopla to commence after Turkey Day, I bet it’s a bit funny enough! Oh, and as many Americans wait until after Thanksgiving to fill up their stockings each year, they complain when they hear seasonal muzak pipe from the retail, department, and big-box stores around or even before Halloween:
By golly, it’s a few months (or weeks) ‘till Thanksgiving Day now!
Related: Christmas Season Starting Earlier: Does It Lead to Holiday Burnout?
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