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History shows one of two things, Christmas is an extension of Christianity itself, and the timing of which it is celebrated. We know that the birth of Jesus, or the conceptualization of the Christian festivity was a way for more people to come to the Vatican for attendance during the early first century and not the actual birth, due to evidence of shepherdship during that time wouldn’t have been in season during December, but more of the spring months. The other is the Norse/Pagan culture, which illustrates the winter aesthetic. These two cultures bled into the eastern and western parts of Europe. However today, we have somewhat combined these two celebration styles, however, the biggest problem is how early some people start celebrating it and why I stand in negation of this choice:

• The Twelve Days of Christmas by Fredriech Austin
• Burnout
• The Monopoly of the Christmas Music Industry

As within my first point, the song Twelve Days of Christmas is based upon the time between the coming Magi and wise men and the birth of Christ. This song was created in 1589 by composer Friedrich Austin, as a way for English, Roman Catholics to practice Christmas even during the Reformation, for which they were permitted not to practice their faith. I bring this up because this is one of the only carols that still holds major significance due to its metamorphosis of meaning within the Christian community. These represent the numerical order of the fruits of the spirit and some use it within a method of eschatological teachings as well. Because of this, I feel that the only time to start celebrating is 12 days prior, because of the acknowledgment of the days leading up to Christmas, which would be December 13.

My second point is the burnout that can occur within listening to Christmas music after Thanksgiving and before December 13 (The right start) or especially before Thanksgiving. To understand the burnout that you and I may undergo due to the overpopulation of Christmas music can go under many different types of burnout, for example, it’s overload burnout. But someone who makes listening to Christmas music a seasonal habit too early can undertake what WebMD explains as, “Habitual burnout.” They continue by stating,” The most serious phase of burnout, habitual burnout happens when your physical and mental fatigue is chronic.”

Also, it goes on to state that it is only healthy to listen to music within 80 decibels within a seven-day period, which means your own ear health will be improved by only listening to Mariah Carey very loudly within a week instead of four weeks.

The last point I want to highlight is the monopoly of the Christmas Music industry. If you have ever been to a retail store regularly, and heard the same Wham! or a Mariah Carey song at least a thousand times, this is what I mean. We see that on Spotify, the most listened to Christmas songs were Wham’s Last Christmas, and satan incarnated into speakers, Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas. The problem is the latter was released in ‘84 and ‘94. To highlight how outdated these songs are, here were the norms at the time of their release:

• The minimum wage was $3.10.
• The Clinton administration was still in office.
• Super Mario 64 had just been released
• The original Handmaid’s Tale was released.

The ironic thing about it is Mariah Carey’s song was released 10 years after ‘84, yet it still feels like an Orwellian nightmare. By the way, if you ever saw Christmas With the Kranks, then you will know that the very ideology of Christmas festivities is on a very thin line of falling into allegorical concepts of foreign ideologies within a Marxist society. The reason why I bring this up is because there is no new music, or at least bleeding within the mainstream. The industry has become as bland as Potato Salad (don’t get me started on that) or the gameplay of the GTA series which should get the same treatment as the E.T. game on the Atari. Bury them. Perhaps even Kanye’s next album. But I digress, this only shows the chokehold one specific song can have on this sub-industry, and maybe if the normalization of prematurely celebrating Christmas and the songs to which those who do listen to them, do not play on repeat the same song.

I’m not saying that I hate Christmas nor the music that is accompanied, you see, as soon as it hits the 13th of December, you can count on me listening to Carol of the Bells, a little bit of Sinatra, Run DMC, or even the Bruce Springsteen concert album. But we have to decide when a genuine excitement for festivities turns into a repetitive obsession, that is only powered by the love of capitalism and obnoxious music.