And so it begins: Christmas decorations, holiday music and eggnog lattes in the red cups at Starbucks (which I’m definitely not complaining about). But holiday season is nowhere close to being here.

Thanksgiving is still three weeks away, yet the red and green monsters have already come out to play. I saw them putting Christmas stuff out on Halloween. It makes me want to cry.

Every year, Americans want to start the holiday madness earlier and earlier. I mean, I get it. Christmas is great and all, but why do people feel the need to start celebrating before Thanksgiving has even come and gone? Because unfortunately, the true meaning of Christmas has disappeared.

As cliché as it sounds, Christmas isn’t really about presents, trees, lights, and eggnog (although, a little about the eggnog), it’s about celebrating the birth of Christ. If you’re not religious and it doesn’t really apply to you, then you make Christmas about family. But for those people who claim to be religious and believe that Jesus was our savior, shame on you for taking the attention off of Him during the holidays. You should at least try to find a balance of focusing on both, rather than spending all your time worrying about what to put under the tree and how many cookies Santa gets.

Getting back to the real issue at hand, again I ask, why are people trying to start celebrating so early? I don’t want go into Fred Meyers and see all these holiday decorations in October. I already feel the pressure of trying to buy the “perfect” gifts for people, and I don’t want to stress about it yet. Let me wait until the last minute without being reminded every time I go to the store that I’m a procrastinator. Plus, the way I see it, the closer Christmas is, the better the deals are.

“You’d be surprised how early we get our first shipment of Christmas stuff,” an anonymous Fred Meyer employee said. “But no matter how early we put stuff up, it doesn’t stop people from buying it the first day out on the floor.”

If people want to celebrate Christmas with their families a little early, it’s their choice. Some people want to start the “most wonderful time of the year” as soon as they can.

However, in today’s society, it’s like Christmas is getting shoved right down our throats the second Halloween ends. I love the Christmas season, but when it’s spread out over two months, it takes all the charm away. A two month celebration is overkill.

It’s bad enough that Black Friday shopping begins Thanksgiving night. I mean, why not just rename Thanksgiving “Black Friday-eve” and call it good. Thanksgiving is an important holiday that just seems to be getting overlooked. Between the Christmas preparation and the Black Friday shopping deals, who cares if we eat turkey on the last Thursday of November?

I can see some of the benefits of putting out the Christmas stuff in stores early as far as cost is concerned. It gives people a chance to spread out the cost of gift buying. From an economic standpoint, I understand. But if I see any Instagram or Snapchat posts of trees or lights going up, I might lose my mind. I already heard Christmas music on the radio, and it almost caused me to swerve into oncoming traffic.

I don’t mean to sound like Scrooge, but at least wait until December to start spreading your holiday cheer. We can’t do anything about the grocery stores or department stores around us, but don’t be one of those people wearing Christmas sweaters in November. Let’s just make it through Thanksgiving first.

But really, I’m not complaining about the eggnog lattes.