Charissa Graves
From the Graves
The Christmas lights don’t need to go up just because Halloween is over.
The fall months are my favorite time of the year, and it seems like every year they get overtaken by carols and bells as soon as the clock strikes midnight on Nov. 1.
Please let fall be fall—that’s all I ask.
Maybe it’s from years of having my mid-November birthday wrapped up in premature Christmas celebrations; maybe it’s from finally living in a place where fall actually comes with decently seasonal weather; or maybe I’m secretly the Grinch. Whatever the case may be, I don’t want to hear a carol until the end of November at the earliest.
The meteorological season of winter doesn’t begin until Dec. 1, well before the winter solstice on Dec. 21. Either way, I—and those like me—should get approximately another month at least to enjoy this beautiful in-between as the air cools before the rain turns to snow.
Let me be clear, I do not at all hate Christmas. It’s the source of some of my fondest childhood memories (and my most stressful, but we don’t need to talk about that). However, I think it can very easily overstay its welcome, much like anything else. In my humble opinion, no holiday needs more than a month; anything beyond that is entirely excessive.
I want to enjoy the color and crunch of the leaves on the ground before they disappear from sight completely. I want to feel a bite of cold in the air before needing to completely defrost after every outing. I want to feel like the main character in an indie movie before being relegated to a sidekick at best in a Hallmark rom-com.
In case I need to reiterate: I. Do. Not. Hate. Christmas. Or. Winter.
My level of vitriol, if you can even call it that, directed at this subject stems from the fact that I believe we lose so much when we overlook the beauty we have now for the excitement that we expect to have later.
I know that this may not apply to everyone, but if you’re one of the people who’s able to enjoy even a modicum of peace before the chaos that December brings, please appreciate it. If you would, for me and for yourself, look around, take a deep breath, and really sit in whatever period of calm you can find.
Charissa Graves is a reporter for The Hutchinson Tribune. She can be reached at: charissa@hutchtribune.com.