Christmas All Year Round

I'm pretty fed up.

There is been a lot of talk on social media regarding Christmas decorations already being displayed in stores, carols being played on the radio, outdoor lights already glowing, etc., and even more talk about boycotting stores that are open on Thanksgiving evening to get a jump on Black Friday.

To all of this I say: Bah-freaking-Humbug.

Many of my friends have chosen celebrate the holidays early this year in order to be able to share them with a deploying service member - in fact, many are having holiday celebrations this very weekend. In my opinion, if Christmas tree displays and carols in the stores make them (and more importantly, their babies) feel a little bit of normalcy, a little bit like they aren't having to celebrate out of turn because a parent has to go into danger, then they're MORE than worth it.

Another "pro" in the column of the early decorations is care packages: Christmas packages for troops deployed overseas need to be sent (usually) by Thanksgiving time in order to be delivered before Christmas. That means gifts selected, packages wrapped, ribbons neatly tied, stockings filled and packed carefully in Flat Rate boxes. Were it not for WalMart putting Christmas decorations out early, families might not get to browse the aisles together, carefully selecting the perfect tiny Christmas tree for Dad's office, or stocking to fill early and send to Mom. Picking out things to send in care packages always made me feel just a little bit closer to Erik. If someone can receive that feeling of closeness from some ill-timed festive holiday displays - I say again, they're more than worth it.

Our own family has celebrated several holidays early before, and having "that feeling" in the air definitely helps when it comes to setting up your Christmas tree in the middle of autumn or roasting a Turkey in early September. In fact, were it not for early Christmas displays, we wouldn't have had a Christmas tree for Grant's first Christmas celebration (because I forgot ours had gone kaput the year before until our "Christmas Eve" in mid-November 2011. Never mind, the many holiday care packages I've packed over the years, whose contents had to be purchased at the first sign of holiday supplies being displayed in stores.)

To be clear: I'm not complaining. I am immensely grateful for every holiday I get to spend with my whole family: be they early, late or on time - and I'd be willing to bet every other military family feels the same way. But I think the general public has forgotten that we still have service members overseas - which means we still have families kissing their Soldiers goodbye for 3, 6, 9, 12 months at a time and babies waking up without a parent on Christmas Day.

The bottom line is avoidance, people. If you don't like the Christmas displays (that I submit do seem to come earlier and earlier every year), don't go to that side of the store. If you don't like the carols playing on the radio, change the station. But some people DO like those things, some people NEED them. I envy the luxury you have to put holidays in their little boxes and not need to think about them until the time comes. To not have to open those little boxes early because your husband is only home from his third year-long trip to the Middle East for 2 weeks and you have to cram your child's entire first holiday season into those few days.

Similarly, if I have to hear one more thing about the unfortunate retail workers going in on holiday evenings for those early shoppers I'm going to scream. Do you watch football on Thanksgiving? Do you run to the corner store for that forgotten can of evaporated milk that goes in your famous pumpkin pie? Do you expect law enforcement officers to come to your aid, or medical professionals to tend to you should the need arise? It's no different. You just don't notice because you're the one who is being afforded the convenience of folks working on holidays. My dad is a law enforcement officer and my mom is a nurse - they worked every other holiday season. Our family survived, we kids are fine - Santa just came a day early or a day late to accommodate, we didn't know the difference. I worked retail all through college and I would volunteer to work on holidays for the extra money and so those with kids could be home to celebrate (because like I said, my family often operated on an amended holiday schedule). I didn't mind, I always thought working on holidays was nice because we were busy, everyone was cheerful and "that feeling" was thick in the air. Whose to say those working on Thanksgiving evening are all that upset about it?

And besides football players, cops and gas station attendants, do you know who else works on holidays? Service members. And no one is planning to boycott freedom on Turkey Day are they?

I didn't think so.

All this said, I sincerely hope that while you sit around your Thanksgiving tables, surrounded by those you love, bickering over who gets the last scoop of Pink Fluff (oh, that's just my family?) you consider the families I mentioned above, and the sacrifice they're making. I hope you say a prayer of   peace and blessings of safety for them, and those they love who are in harms way, until their family can be united around a Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham again, even if it's in the middle of July.