The traditional start for the Christmas season used to be the morning after Thanksgiving. Retailers once honored an unspoken agreement to separate Thanksgiving from Christmas by one full day, a national and family day, and then throw caution to the wind.
My brother Tracy sang in the Atlanta Boys’ Choir, and our family used to drive downtown to hear him sing. We also stayed to watch Rich’s, the biggest department store in the greater Atlanta area, light up the Atlanta skyline with a huge Christmas tree. Walking to and from our parked car, we could peer through the windows and see that all the merchants were prepared for the onslaught of post-Thanksgiving customers.
Our Christmas tradition also included an annual rant by my maternal grandmother. Because she lived with us it was difficult to ignore her anticipated outburst, which included a list of worthy topics: the commercialization of Christmas, the emphasis of the secular over the sacred, and the modern world’s hectic pace. Her biggest irritant, however, was the early start to Christmas, a date that was inching closer to Halloween with each passing year.
Guess what? Grandma was right.
On Aug. 8, 139 days before Dec. 25, Christmas officially arrived in London as one retailer ignored the heat wave and got into the festive spirit. Harrods ushered in the Christmas season by decorating a healthy portion of their store early. To top it off, Bing Crosby’s voice could be heard in the background, serenading anxious shoppers as they filled their carts with yuletide gifts.
Perhaps my dismay can be attributed, even blamed, on heredity. To be honest, however, I love everything about Christmas: the spirit, the movies, the lights, the faith-filled observances, family, food, snow and gifts. As Little Jo said, in Louisa Mae Alcott’s Little Women, “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.”
But isn’t 139 days a little early? Why the rush?
Sociologists coined my generation the “space age” because, like NASA, we were in a hurry. We purchased Polaroid cameras, TV dinners and 3-minute oatmeal. The longest wait I can remember was watching nearly 60 minutes of “The Ed Sullivan Show” before the Beatles finally performed.
Our technological improvements, while welcomed by most, have not generated a slower pace. If anything, life is moving faster than ever before, and we seem to have lost our ability to wait, even for the good things that life affords.
God, however, introduced His Son to the world “ … in the fulness of time” (Galatians 4:4, KJV). Although her conception was immaculate, Mary carried her baby full term. In fact, the only biblical
Christmas rush involved a rag-tag collection of shepherds who were determined to see this once in a lifetime event. Luke writes: “They came with haste and found Mary, Joseph and the babe lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16, KJV).
If you want to decorate for Christmas in August, be my guest. Just don’t rush it. There’s something about anticipation that enhances our ability to enjoy.
• Tony Thomas is a church pastor, a high school basketball coach and author of “A Smidgeon of Religion.” He can be reached through the newspaper at ptnews@pharostribune.com.
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