Christmas music rant... and other various and related topics...

I have a specific self-enforced rule regarding Christmas music, and the more I have shared it with friends and family, I have learned that many people feel a similar way.

The rule...

Absolutely NO Christmas music before thanksgiving.

This rule is crucial for multiple reasons. For one it ensures that the holiday season doesn't extend all the way back through November and to Halloween. Christmas is a 1 day thing. Unless you count Christmas Eve, I'll give that to you. So ok it's a two day thing. UNLESS you're into the 12 days of Christmas thing. OK thats where I draw the line. It can be 12 days... but... by this point we're already talking December 13th... we may as well make it the whole moth of December at this point. TWENTY FIVE DAYS. But Thanksgiving is so close to December 1st. Why not just let Christmas begin right after Thanksgiving?

See what I mean? It's an addicting mind game that can take over your life. There needs to be support groups for this kind of thing.

BUT, I have exhibited some level of self control, despite the fact that in my mind I have let a single day holiday extend back into the previous month... making a 24 hour event somehow become a 30 day event. BUT I mean business when I say no celebrating it before Turkey Day.When the clock strikes midnight and Thanksgiving has passed, start up those radio stations that play the tunes non stop, and let the celebrating begin. And what better way to celebrate christmas than with christmas music.

A NOTE ON CHRISTMAS MUSIC: In reality, christmas music is actually just a collection of about 20 songs, performed by countless different artists. During what other time of year can you hear artists from such different spectrums as these two below, cover the same tunes or in this case go as far as to perform them together...

If you were to take the music and put it outside of the context of Christmas it would be a completely absurd notion: Listening to 40 variations of the same song. But we do it. And most of us love it. I am no exception. I counted the minutes to midnight when I put on Dustin Kensrue's new Christmas album, titled "The Good Night is Still Everywhere" (A GREAT folk christmas CD if you're into that kind of thing. I wanted to post a link but its not on YouTube. It is on iTunes however...) and rocked out. I recommend you do the same... its good for the soul, regardless of your beliefs. Most of them are more about the season than the holiday itself. Its more marketable that way...