Calm Down, Louisiana – It’s Not Christmas Yet

As the temperatures in Lafayette, Louisiana dip lower and lower, we even face near-freezing temperatures before they rise back into the upper-70s this weekend, it's no wonder that people are starting to think about wintertime and, yes, Christmas.

I don't blame folks for it. I come from Natchitoches. Christmas is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, events of the year back home. The lights are going up as we speak. I am certain that the next time I go home to visit, I will see lights strung up on Front Street just waiting for the first official lighting of the season.

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But, my dearest friends and readers, it is not Christmas yet, and I don't like the fact that our Halloween decorations are coming down and Christmas decorations are already going up. Calm down. It's not time yet to get out the lights. We are not yet ready to thaw Mariah Carey and unleash all she wants for Christmas on society.

Yes, I understand that Walmart has already put out Christmas decorations and Hobby Lobby is all aglow with the Christmas spirit. I know folks who are already looking for the next item to plant in their front yard or to adorn their roofs. We have decided to sacrifice the autumn season for Santa Claus. It's tragic.

I encourage you to reject Christmas until the end of the Thanksgiving season and focus on just how delightful the current season is. It is right and proper for us to enjoy all that the fall has to offer us.

Reject Christmas in December. I beg you.

I maintain that the most un-American tradition is to even think about Christmas until 5 a.m. the morning after Thanksgiving. People argue with me about this on Twitter, and it’s always amazing to me how many people on the Internet could be so wrong. Thanksgiving is an American holiday, one that recognizes the original settlers of this great land, their struggle to survive, and how the native inhabitants came to help them.

Sure, the relationship between the settlers and the natives would grow a bit tense a few generations out, but for that one moment, America was as it should be: united.

Santa Claus is a vicious, imperialistic force that has constantly tried to invade the other holidays. His takeover of Thanksgiving is all but complete, and he is encroaching on Halloween as we speak. The Fall is a magical time, the best time of the year, and we are actually offering it as a sacrifice to a man dressed all in red who gives things away for free.

Like Santa Claus, if you are party to this imperial destruction of Thanksgiving, I can only assume you are a communist. Pure and simple.

I get it, though. The commercial appeal of Christmas is so enticing, however, because we spend our money on THINGS. Shiny THINGS. Appealing THINGS. The next big THINGS. Sant's invasion of the fall and its holidays is all about the THINGS. All the THINGS. We have given up heritage for the shiny, and we run the risk of losing a very important part of our culture as a result.

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If there is a War on Christmas, as many have long contended, I am the one fighting it. But I'm not trying to protect Christmas. I am trying to keep it from invading my favorite time of year.