A tale as old as time with a debate spanning decades: are you allowed to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving? Everyone has heard many-a-claim that the Christmas season doesn’t officially begin until Thanksgiving is over, but there is one major thing that could dispute this claim. Is there such a thing as the “Thanksgiving season?”
Arguably, no. Halloween involves heaps of cobweb and skeleton decor, months of preparation for a group costume that will ultimately get changed the week before and plenty of spooky songs. Christmas is the same, with thousand-dollar light displays that your neighbors in the heart of suburbia will forget to turn off so you’re left wondering what their electric bill must be. There’s cookie making and of course the anticipation about Santa and his reindeer arriving on Dec. 25 (or the $120 Free People sweater that you asked your parents for because as a broke college student, you most definitely could not justify that price). Thanksgiving just does not have these things.
All of the best Thanksgiving events happen the day of. There is not really a build-up like there is for Halloween and Christmas. There’s Thanksgiving Eve, aka one of the biggest bar holidays of the entire year, the Macy’s Parade (which as a former theater kid I still watch every second of shamelessly) and the National Dog Show, but these are both day of too. Finally, there is Thanksgiving dinner, which is very hit or miss depending on the amount of family drama you have (sometimes a hit if you have MORE family drama than usual– it keeps things interesting).
The real nail in the coffin for the no-Christmas-music-before-Thanksgiving camp is the lack of Thanksgiving music. There is the seminal classic “Turkey Lurkey Time” from the play “Promises, Promises” and covered by Sarah Jessica Parker, Lea Michele and Chris Colfer on “Glee” for some reason. That one is mixed with another classic “Let’s Have a Kiki,” which I would say has become a Thanksgiving song just because of that cover. There are also lovely autumnal classics from Nat King Cole such as “‘Tis Autumn.” At the end of the day though, Christmas music before Thanksgiving is mainly acceptable because there isn’t a large selection of Thanksgiving music.
If you want to compromise, some Christmas songs are more acceptable to play before Thanksgiving than others. I personally still think all of them are, but these should be the least offensive to the “no Christmas music” proponents. First and foremost, “All I Want for Christmas is You” by the queen of the holidays herself, Mariah Carey. This song is fun, flirty and could be considered a standalone pop anthem. Next up is “Last Christmas” by WHAM!. The overarching theme here is that Christmas music that can also be categorized as pop deserves to be played before Thanksgiving, if not all year round. “Last Christmas” captures heartbreak and is a great karaoke pick. Finally “Back to December” by Taylor Swift– do I really even need to explain this one? This song is just a masterpiece.
I’m sure I am missing some more exceptions to the rule, but at the end of the day, only Scrooges outlaw Christmas tunes before turkey time.
Emma Erion is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Tell Emma by tweeting her @ErionEmma
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