Not everybody celebrates every holiday. To the people who do celebrate Halloween, don’t you feel as though it gets swallowed up by Christmas’s/Hanukkah’s/Kwanzaa’s shadow? Halloween’s moon eclipsed by the winter holiday-of-your-choosing’s sun. Let’s be honest here, Christmas takes over everything. In Walmart, they’ve been moving out the Halloween decor and slipping in the Christmas lights subtly since, probably, the end of September. Cracker Barrel has fully surpassed Halloween and driven straight down Santa Clause Lane, decking their halls with boughs of holly—whatever those are. 

We’re gonna pretend for this column that Thanksgiving doesn’t exist. It works as a precursor to Christmas—you can gage how your family will interact and your mom’s general level of stress this year by how Thanksgiving goes, but does it really matter? And, symbolically, it’s terrible anyway. 

I didn’t have time to enjoy the jack-o-lanterns, motion sensor decorations designed to scare you as you walk passed, dangling skeletons, fake spider webs, rubber bats—where does it all go? And so quickly! In the blink of an eye, we’ll be herded straight into a Christmas frenzy marketed to us by big businesses. I’m not ready for Christmas songs to completely take over radio stations. I’m not in the mood to watch Elf yet or It’s a Wonderful Life. I’m not dreaming of a white Christmas, yet—I can barely visualize getting through this next week of classes.

While I indulge in movies of the horror genre year round, I missed out on the Halloweentown and Scream marathon I annually engage in. I didn’t even watch Hocus Pocus or Halloween—though, I did make time to see the Halloween remake for its opening weekend. How could I not? Netflix adding a couple of spooky new series—because, tis the season—and I probably won’t have the time to watch those until winter break. And I’ve heard great things about The Haunting of Hill House. 

You can safely assume I am not one of those Facebook users that posts a countdown till Christmas . . . literally the day after Christmas. But don’t get it twisted: I’m not one of those people that complains about the holidays creeping up too fast either. 

What I’m trying to say is this: it’s important to be in the moment. I know this generation has a general fear of missing out, but that fear can keep us from being in the present. Businesses are so concerned with making a pretty pretty off of Christmas they rush us through other holidays and completely ignore others. And we buy into it! Do I think it’s important to be prepared? Yes. Do I think that we need to see nutcrackers out in the middle of October? No thank you. Unless they are zombie themed or otherwise. 

Take the time to experience the holidays as they come. 

Megan Keane can be reached at 581-2812 or mkkeane@eiu.edu.