Too Early for Christmas?

Alright, let me just say that, although Christmas is NOT my favorite holiday (Valentine's is) I still LOVE it! For many years though I resented the fact that it seemed to come earlier & earlier. I resented the commercials, the decorations & the hurriedness of the season & then the giant emotional let-down I'd feel a few hours after awaking on Christmas morning, when it was ALL over.

The last few years though...mid-November, along w/ that crisp fall feeling & chilly but cozy nights, I'd turn on the oven, start baking & turn on the Christmas music. I also started to think less & less about the 'presents', meeting gift giving expectations, attempting to get all the holiday cards out on time w/ perfect family pix enclosed, rushing to deep clean the home so I could put up the decorations that were never quite right & all the other commercial trappings of the holiday.

I meditated & focused more & more on the HOLY-ness of the season & I began to enjoy it much more fully & there was NO let down.

I recently read on a forum I frequent, how many Christians do NOT even celebrate Christmas OR Easter. They view it as a secular holiday & UNbiblical. That is fine. I don't care but it did get me to thinking. One of their points was that the birth & death & finally resurrection of Christ was something to celebrate EVERY day.

The last part was the clincher for me. I think it IS something to celebrate everyday as well & I happen to enjoy taking the month of December to celebrate it MORE. With that in mind, what is the harm in listening to Christmas music in November, BEFORE Thanksgiving? Or June? OR even in February?

I keep hearing people verbalize how AWFUL they think it is to have Christmas music playing BEFORE Thanksgiving. How they just 'aren't ready' for Christmas to start yet.

Think about it though...WHAT are you REALLY not 'ready' FOR? IS it Christmas or the COMMERCIALISM? WHAT are you REALLY focused on? If you are focused on the HOLY-ness of the season (& essentially every day)...then wouldn't Christmas music be an EXCELLENT way to 'remind' us of the REAL reason we have to be 'thankful'?

Are you trapped in the holiday rush? Feel like it comes too fast & before you know, it's GONE?
Maybe you need to focus on the REASON & forget the rest. kwim? Avoid the mall, you won't get that 'feelling' there, along w/ crowds of unfulfilled patrons looking for the 'perfect' gift. If you have Jesus Christ as your personal Lord & Savior....you ALREADY HAVE the perfect gift. What more could you ask for? Anything else is just icing on the cake, & how sweet it is! :o)

The same goes for 'Thanksgiving'. The thanks doesn't have to end when the turkey runs out. Take the holiday season to REALLY think on all the things you have to be thankful for.

I don't look @ it as the thanksgiving ends & then it's--Christmas & then it's over & you don't think of it again for a year. I think of it as a continual day to day of giving thanks & meditating on Christ's gift to me. For me.

So personally, I have NO problem tuning into a radio station that's playing Christmas music a week before Thanksgiving & will continue until New Year's!

I LOVE it! And some of the BEST 'worship' & 'praise' songs are "Christmas" songs anyway! ;o)