YES: James Waterman
When Christmas junk is competing with Thanksgiving turkeys and Halloween decorations in early October, the season has definitely begun too early.
And the problem really is the junk. It is all junk.
If the temperature dips below zero and the snow flies during the first week of October, by all means, start reminiscing about past holiday seasons and dreaming about the yuletide festivities on the way, but don’t start cramming the shelves of your local department stores with disposable garbage that too many of us will spend three months purchasing and three days throwing away, only to linger for a lifetime in a festering pit of slowly rotting petrochemicals that isn’t the slightest bit Christmas at all.
Let’s take the consumerism out of Christmas.
Let’s wait until the nights are so long and dark that we wish every tree was glowing with colourful lights, until the snow is so deep that you genuinely need the skis and snowshoes that used to be staple Christmas gifts in the days before video games, until it is too bone chilling cold to do anything but sit by the fire and drink egg nog.
Let’s stop being easy marks for Corporate America’s snake oil salesmen who try to convince us that Christmas is cheap plastic ornaments and Styrofoam snowmen that must be bought on October first.
Let’s just let Christmas happen naturally. When it feels like Christmas to you, it’s Christmas. And just remember that that doesn’t mean you have to run out and buy a bunch of trash.
NO: Brock Campbell
Sure, it is easy to get sick and tired of Christmas carols and become overwhelmed by holiday stress, but in no way does the Christmas season start too soon.
Consider when the shopping season starts and what this means for shoppers’ safety, as well as the preservation of relationships around the world.
In Canada, it is safe to say the season unofficially begins the day after Halloween. For Americans, Black Friday – considered the first shopping day following Thanksgiving Day – marks the beginning of the shopping season in the United States. In recent years, Black Friday’s notoriously been marred by violent acts as shoppers have aggressively duked it out for the last available, proverbial, ‘Tickle Me Elmo’.
What has this world come to that bargain hunters feel the need to shiv a fellow shopper? If only these people had more time.
It’s practically unheard of that Canadian shoppers would unleash pepper spray in a crowd of Christmas consumers, no thanks to a lengthier shopping season that allows for less pressure on parents to find that special gift.
Imagine the ensuing bedlam if shoppers only had a few weeks to find the presents of their children’s dreams. Black Friday would take on a whole new meaning.
For arguments sake, let’s say that 50 per cent of men buy their gifts two or three days prior to Christmas (a generous approximation I’m sure), this percentage would no doubt increase by the week if the season we’re shortened anymore. Men need this cushion for the sake of their livelihood.
READ THIS!
Each week editorial staff take turns engaging in debate on a hot topic. These debates are intended to explore both sides of an issue and arguments expressed here are chosen by flip of the coin, therefore they do not necessarily reflect the true opinion of the duelist.
