November is the month of giving, spending time with loved ones and watching the orange and red leaves fall off the trees. Families put up their fall decorations and decide what will be cooked for the Thanksgiving feast. For some, however, it’s just the start of the winter holiday activities — especially for radio station 93.9.

Channel 93.9 decided to start the celebration extra early this year when they started playing Christmas music on Nov. 1. Don’t get me wrong, I love listening to holiday tunes while drinking hot chocolate and looking at the decorated houses, or spending time with family with the faint sound of popular songs playing in the back. My question is: why do we need to start so early?

December is 31 days long, which means 31 days of listening to cheery holiday music. Do we really need to start a whole month early? Many spend all of November thinking about Christmas and all the holiday tasks we need to complete before the twenty-fifth comes around, instead of taking time to spend November with family and preparing for Thanksgiving day.

So many people only look ahead and think about what’s going to happen next instead of being present and taking time to enjoy the month where we are supposed to be especially grateful. I’ll admit I do it too sometimes, but recently, I have acknowledged the issue many people have. November goes by so quickly, so why waste it preparing for the next month?

Many people can agree that people start celebrating the holidays too early. Walking through my neighborhood it is clear — people have already decorated and have their trees up the second week of November. Celebrating too early ruins the excitement. Why rush to celebrate when it will be overlooked by Thanksgiving?

I totally understand the excitement for December, but celebrating too early ruins the excitement. Channel 93.9 seems to have started the music earlier every year. I always remember begging my parents to play Christmas music, and it was always the same answer: “It’s too early,” which now I understand because it truly is too early.

I am really excited about the Christmas season and celebrating with family, but I do think we need to halt celebrations. Listening to festive music a month before ruins the excitement. Christmas stations need to wait until after Thanksgiving to ensure families are able to stay in the moment and celebrate the rest of the fall season before winter comes.