It happens slowly. An elf here, a reindeer there; no big deal.

But everything changes when October arrives. Suddenly aisles ooze red and green, pine needles litter the floor and Santa Claus figurines line every corner watching to see who is naughty and who is nice. Bats and witches are shoved to the back to make room for what the Macmillan Dictionary defines as “Christmas Creep,” the displaying of Christmas merchandise early in order to increase sales.

Christmas needs to stay in December. As a Halloween lover, seeing Jack-o-Lanterns alongside Santa Claus is inexcusable. October marks the time for scary movies, trick-or-treating and tons of candy, not elves and reindeer. If they were zombie reindeer and elves, even though it would be incredibly unsettling, it would still be better than having Rudolph next to grim reapers. There is absolutely no reason Christmas has to invade the Halloween and Thanksgiving seasons. Let those who enjoy Halloween have their orange-drenched time, and those who love Thanksgiving have their turkey time. Christmas can wait.

Halloween and Thanksgiving get shoved to the side to make room for Christmas trees, Santa Claus figurines and Elves on the Shelf. There is something unsettling about seeing a Freddy Krueger costume, donning his trademark green and red sweater, next to Santa, and there are more than enough Halloween-related items to fill up the shelves.

By the time December finally rolls around, radios are tuned from station to station in a pointless effort to escape the repetitive Christmas carols, jolly Old Saint Nick has been in stores for three months and the scent of peppermint has become one of the greatest evils of the holiday season. Everything is better in moderation, and that includes Christmas.

Those in favor of the over-commercialization of Christmas argue that setting out Christmas merchandise clears up the “dead space” between the end of summer and beginning of December. However, there would not be a dead space if Halloween and Thanksgiving were given a decent amount of time in stores.

Leave Christmas where it belongs —December. Four weeks is plenty of time to get into the Christmas spirit and leaves just enough time to enjoy the festivities before they get tiresome.
There is no reason to display Christmas merchandise in October. Christmas is great, there is no doubt about that; however, all holidays should have time to be enjoyed. No holiday should have to be endured for three months.