Every year around this time it starts happening again. Red and green decorations deck the aisles of local shopping centers, people are adorning their houses with twinkling white lights, and the stereotypical ugly Christmas sweater is finding its way to the racks of different clothing stores. We’re getting into the holiday spirit, yet it’s still early November.

And every year, it seems to come earlier and earlier. People are getting into the Christmas spirit as early as the day after Halloween, but this shortchanges Thanksgiving.

“There’s a reason Thanksgiving is celebrated and I feel like that’s overlooked” says sophomore Sean O’Brien.

English teacher Liz Sheehan adds, “Thanksgiving is the most American holiday.”

So when is it appropriate for us to start celebrating Christmas? Honestly, who really cares. We should be less concerned about how the red tinsel in our neighbor’s trees invalidates Thanksgiving and more concerned about being taken advantage of by big companies pushing “the holiday season” as a way to reap profits. This often leaves us spending an excessive amount of money on unnecessary things, making the holidays less about family and coming together and more about materialism.

We should keep in mind the reason we celebrate these holidays in the first place: to celebrate the love we have for eachother. We applaud stores like T.J. Maxx, GameStop, Barnes and Noble, and many more for putting people before profits and staying closed Thanksgiving day.