Christmas is a wonderful holiday that brings families and friends together for feasting as well as gift-giving, bringing cheer to children and adults alike. Christmas is often associated with fuzzy feelings of kindness, silky hot cocoa with marshmallows and the beautiful display of colorful lights all across neighborhoods and cities.

    Christmas lights are a very popular thing across America, as there is nothing better to set the tone for the holiday season than some colorful Christmas lights illuminating a house, or even better, an Evergreen tree. But there is not much that can surpass the gut-wrenching feeling of seeing Christmas lights suspended in the air before Thanksgiving or, even worse, early November. What is it about these seemingly joyful lights that bring such a demise of good feeling? And at what time are these decorations acceptable? These two simple questions yield a not-so-simple response.

    When it comes to decorations, there is no hesitation. We love to get that feeling of Christmas cheer we all crave in the long months of October and November, knowing that Christmas is just around the corner. But when these decorations are put up in the first 20 days of November, there is nothing joyful about it. Even those who love to decorate their houses have a complex reluctance to put up this decor before Thanksgiving.

   The reason for these harsh feelings toward Christmas decor before Thanksgiving is the redundancy of giving people a slight glimmer of hope for Christmas time before crushing it down with sadness because there is still over a month left until Christmas. Knowing that there is still another three weeks of work or school to go until Christmas gives us that gut-wrenching feeling that we all hate.

   At the end of the day, Christmas lights are an amazing display of the holiday spirit that can set the mood just right for the occasion. However, if put up before Thanksgiving, it radiates a sad feeling among people, knowing that there is still a lot of time before holidays officially commence. Therefore, Christmas lights should only be put up after Thanksgiving, or better yet, in December, when the holiday spirit is in full swing.