‘Tis the season for Christmas to find its way into stores.
Businesses commonly put out decorations and products for Christmas around November, a month before the winter holidays start.
“We put up our Christmas decorations as soon as Halloween is over. In fact, Christmas becomes more important than Thanksgiving, even though Thanksgiving is first,” said Hilary Klopp, a Reading Bug employee.
Because people tend to prepare early for Christmas and other winter holidays, businesses notice that trend and cater to the customers. But, some people are skeptical whether the decision to welcome Christmas early in stores is to heighten the joy of the holidays or to benefit the business.
“I’m in favor of joyful celebration. And there are many holidays whose purpose I think is beautiful, both from a directional and a human cultural perspective,” said Erik Migdail, an English teacher at Carlmont High School. “However, my view of corporations that are putting up decorations is slightly more cynical than that. I believe it’s driven more by a desire to capture capital in profit, rather than a genuine celebration of joyfulness or the underlying meaning of the holiday.”
While sometimes it’s less of a desire for profit and more of a means to stay afloat, it is a fact that many businesses sell the most products during holiday times.
“In a retail business, and especially for a bookstore like ours, which has books and also lots of games and toys, we do most of our annual sales during the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Klopp said. “Probably 80% of our annual intake is during that very short six weeks, so it’s essential for us to put all those displays out early and to be prepared.”
Although stores like to put out their Christmas stock early for customers, they often don’t include stock for other winter holidays.
“I want to see more inclusiveness, not just of my particular celebration of Hanukkah, but also of Kwanzaa and other celebrations happening at this time,” Migdail said. “They should have a place in the public square so that we’re not elevating one viewpoint or set of beliefs over another.”
I want to see more inclusiveness, not just of my particular celebration of Hanukkah, but also of Kwanzaa and other celebrations that are happening at this time.
— Erik Migdail
However, some stores promote inclusivity and sell more than just Christmas items.
“We bring out special wrapping paper for customers because sometimes they’ll ask for ‘holiday paper,’ which usually means paper for Hannukah or Christmas. We try to accommodate requests and make sure people can start buying for whichever holiday they celebrate,” Klopp said.
Putting out holiday items early is also very beneficial for people who like to prepare as soon as possible.
“I usually prepare for Christmas immediately after Thanksgiving. Sometimes I also prepare earlier, like after Halloween,” said Amanda Brennan, a junior at Carlmont.
Preparation not only includes decorating, but shopping too.
“For Christmas shopping, my family sometimes does them in separate trips, but we also do one big trip after Black Friday,” Brennan said.
Of course, not everyone likes to prepare early.
“My family usually does Christmas shopping the day before. It’s so hard to find gifts for people, and everything is really expensive,” said Claudia Williams, a sophomore at Carlmont.
According to Williams, her family also only puts up decorations and gets their Christmas tree a week before Christmas.
In addition to differences in timely preparation, there is also a difference in how people want to decorate.
“I love to go all out with decorations. I like to be a typical Hallmark movie enthusiast,” Brennan said.
On the other hand, the Williams family typically doesn’t decorate all over.
“We put up a Christmas tree with a bunch of ornaments, and sometimes we put up red and green decorations inside our home, but we don’t go all out,” Williams said.
Despite all these differences in people’s opinions on when the right time is to start preparing for the holidays, there is one thing that most people can agree on.
Whether a person celebrates Christmas or not, and whether they prepare early or late, the winter holidays are a time for families to come together and have fun.
