Christmas is just around the corner. Some already have their Christmas decorations up, desperately counting down the days until the clock strikes midnight on December 25. In preparation for the upcoming holiday season, many are adding classical and pop Christmas songs to their music playlists. Once the holiday season is over, people start to move away from those songs and go back to their pre-holiday music.
That broaches the question: When should people start playing Christmas music? A common answer is to start after Thanksgiving in order to fully get into the holiday season without overshadowing Thanksgiving and enjoying quality family time. Once Black Friday and Cyber Monday have passed, many families will have more than enough decor to put inside and outside of their homes, which, in turn, makes them play their favorite Christmas songs as well to set the tune for the holiday season.
Many students also agree that playing music the day after Thanksgiving allows one to get through finals knowing that Christmas is coming up. Those last three weeks of December become a little less stressful when accompanied by catchy music to sing along with during group study sessions.
Playing it too early comes at the risk of being bored of the songs by the time Christmas rolls around and playing it for the first time in mid-December might not get people into the holiday spirit.
Flag Football, Basketball and Softball Coach Aubrie Businger enjoys listening to classics like Jingle Bells and favorites like Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley.
“I would say to start playing Christmas music after Thanksgiving,” explained Businger. “You should end it by the time you get back to school, so around the beginning of January.”
After Christmas, New Year’s is just around the corner and people are excited to start this new chapter in their lives. It marks a fresh start and for some people that means playing Christmas music to hype themselves up while they make their annual New Year’s resolutions. Though Christmas music is highly catchy, there is a point where it becomes repetitive, and those same songs we have been listening to for over a decade need to be put on pause until the next holiday season rolls around.
Sophomore Niki Tzartzanis also enjoys listening to Jingle Bells to help get her into the holiday spirit. She shares her thoughts on when people should listen to Christmas music.
“I think right before Thanksgiving is probably fine, once it is spring you should stop,” said Tzartzanis. “It is too early to start celebrating Christmas in summer and it can stop in the spring. You can turn it on once in a while in the summer, but just not repeatedly.”
Choosing to start and stop playing Christmas music is mostly a personal choice and sometimes the radio is on a different schedule than everyone else’s. However, starting it at an appropriate time guarantees that people will get more involved in the holiday season, and ending it guarantees that next year’s Christmas is just as exciting as this one.
