I confess. I'm a Scrooge. Well, maybe not quite a Scrooge.
But I heard the unwelcome news this morning that the local
"oldies" station had started their annual Christmas tradition
of playing "All Christmas Music" from now until the holiday.
This means that I'm going to have to find a different music
station to listen to until Christmas again.
Now let me explain my position on this: I love Christmas,
I love holiday music, but I don't want to be bombarded
with it before Thanksgiving has even been here.Some
malls and department stores started setting up their
Christmas displays and piping Christmas carols overhead
back in October, and they aren't doing it out of pure
love of the holiday, folks. They want us to start buying
their holiday merchandise before we buy it someplace
else. They play the music so we'll be in the mood to
spend. I work retail myself, and I expect our store
will start playing all Christmas music overhead next
week. We've already been playing one album in
the rotation for two weeks.
Too much, too soon.
Christmas shopping season didn't start until the day
after Thanksgiving when I was a kid. It's one of the
reasons I love the movie "Christmas Story". Everything
that Ralphie does in that movie is something I did at
Christmas: going to see a Christmas parade, seeing
Santa at the store to get my picture taken (well, I was
a bit younger, but look at the picture. I was even dressed
like Ralphie!) I even wanted a bb rifle! Christmas was
a special time that only happened for a few weeks every
year in December.
Now it startes in October, or God help us, in Spetember,
depending on which department store chain wants to get
an early start on getting our money.
So I emailed the program director at WODS:
"Subject: Holiday Tradition
Yep, it's time for my annual Holiday tradition. Your station
starts playing all Christmas Music, and I stop listening to you
until a few days before Christmas. Sorry, dudes, but you
ruin my holiday mood by playing carols too early. How about
letting Thanksgiving come and go before moving on to Christmas?
How about keeping the magic of Christmas alive without indulging
in overkill by rushing the season?
Sorry if that makes me sound like Ebenezer Scrooge, but
there are a lot of others like me out here who feel the same way.
Have a Merry Christmas...in December.
Bill West"
So if that makes me a Scrooge, so be it.
6 comments:
I feel the same way, in the Pittsburgh area we are seeing Christmas decorations before Halloween.
I remember going to see Santa once, and after we waited in line I refused to sit on his lap and crawled under the chair... I remember my mother being mad at what I did. I was afraid of him.
Amen, amen and amen!
I'm posting this for Lucie LeBlanc
Consentino:
"Excellent Bill!! Great blog and great message to the station. I cannot believe it! Like you I like it to begin after Thanksg...iving. It goes on for so long now-a-days that it takes the "magic" out of the carols for children..drat!"
Bill, Bill, you are so behind the times. Christmas was last week. I'm seeing ads for Valentine's Day.
I am right there with you, Bill! And in our area, the stations don't play carols at all, just "pop" Christmas music. A mix would be nice, maybe even some instrumental only. Ah, well.
Growing up at home, the Christmas season started about 2 weeks before Christmas when my mom put up decorations, and then the week before Christmas we put up a tree. It was a season to treasure rather than like now when it's almost become a 2-3 month holiday season.
The Christmas season does not begin in this house until after Thanksgiving. It "Officially" kicks off in my home when I play my CD of Handel's "Messiah." Then and only then are the trappings of the season allowed to show themselves.
Every celebration deserves its own day in the sun, not to have to share it with another one.
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