Mansfield is working through a summer reprise, where we get the last kick of warm weather before we head into winter for good. But it’s not too cold yet - the harvest sun glints off the multi-colored display of autumn leaves across the Mansfield valley, Halloween decorations and treats have shown up on campus, and Christmas has hit the stores. Already.
For conservative holiday revelers, the Halloween season starts on October 1, 2020, fighting the tide of Halloween candy that started appearing a month ago. November is dedicated to Thanksgiving and harvest season, and the Christmas preparation starts on Black Friday. This gives each season 31, 26, and 29 days respectively this year. But with the early arrival of Christmas decorations in Mansfield’s local Walmart, those periods look more like 61, 26, and 86 days.
Holiday Creep seems to get worse every year. As of September 30, 2020, Walmart and Dollar Tree each have a dedicated Christmas section, complete with gift wrapping, ornaments and pine trees. Christmas music (which isn’t present yet) is infamous for creeping over the radio airwaves as early as November 1, 2020, overthrowing usual formatting and often playing until early January (which will not be happening on WNTE, the campus radio station).
The holiday trifecta of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas used to be referred to as the “Golden Quarter” by retailers when plotting out yearly profits. So the creep of these holidays is often tied to stores’ desire to lengthen their most profitable time of the year. Black Friday, with its inane profitability, sometimes gets extended to Black November. The longer that the Christmas spirit is in the air, the more generous customers might be when supporting the Christmas Machine.
So what does Holiday Creep affect? For those who celebrate it, the Christmas season is around three times longer and drowns a bit more in commercialism each year. “Smaller” holidays such as Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and National Ice Cream Day (December 13, 2020) are trampled by Halloween’s candy and Christmas’ ornaments.
Does Holiday Creep make the season a bit less special? Having Christmas every day sounds nice in a festive song, but it loses some of its once-a-year atmospheres and meaning when celebrated so much earlier.