You all are going to want to hear me out on this one. I have this debate with almost every single one of my friends on whether it’s acceptable or not to start celebrating Christmas on November 1st (right after Halloween) or after Thanksgiving.

Everyone has asked me, “How can you just skip over Thanksgiving like that?” The answer is, I don’t. Allow me to explain: you can celebrate Christmas year-round if you want to, but most people don’t. I know people who start celebrating Christmas right after Halloween, and I know other people who wait until after Thanksgiving to get into the Christmas spirit. Think of it this way, rather than arguing about when Christmas starts, why not just celebrate Christmas up until the week of Thanksgiving, take the week for Thanksgiving, then continue celebrating Christmas? There’s also a difference between the Christmas season and the Christmas spirit. The Christmas season can begin November 1st and continue through the week of Thanksgiving; after Thanksgiving is when you fully get into the Christmas spirit.

When you have Christmas spirit, you start putting up decorations, deciding on what you’re going to be cooking for Christmas dinner and get the butterflies of knowing that the only thing between you and Christmas is the month that you have to wait. This is also the time period of the year when families continue their traditions for the Christmas season, such as getting a Christmas tree, making gingerbread houses or just doing whatever your family does around this time.

All I have to say is, start celebrating Christmas whenever you want to, I put my tree up in July.