Christmas Carols

I think I get it. I mean, like most people, I want to assume that I get it. However, I don't really "get" it. Why do people have such a problem with Christmas Carols? I love Christmas carols, especially the old classics. It is one of my favorite things about the winter season.

I know I'm not the only one who loves Christmas carols, so it surprises me when people start complaining about how early Christmas carols are getting played and how quickly they tire of them. This year I was cast in "A Christmas Carol". It put me in the holiday spirit fairly early so I started to listen to Christmas carols a few weeks earlier than I might have otherwise (we're talking about before Thanksgiving). It made me happy. Other people, not so much.

It seems that most people want their Christmas carols for a limited time or they will become "sick of them." This confuses me, because they can listen to the same inane, generic pop songs on their playlist over and over for twelve months of the year. Give them anything approaching a full month of Christmas carols and they start to go insane as if they are being put upon. It just doesn't make sense to me.

But it does. And so here is what I think is going on. There are two issues at stake.

1. When Christmas carols first start playing people begin to think of the stress of holiday shopping. It's an early reminder of the increasing commercialization of the holiday. People don't really object to the music, they object to how the pressures of Christmas are reaching back earlier and earlier in the year. This is also why Christmas music becomes more enjoyable (for some) as Christmas approaches. As they get into the spirit of giving, get their shopping done, and decrease their stress the Christmas music is less threatening and more reminiscent of the positive emotions of the season.

2. Christmas is something to look forward to when the days are getting shorter and colder. Christmas carols help remind us of that. It's a comfort. However, after Christmas is over the weather is still cold, the days are still dark, and the Christmas carols are now reminding us of a day that has gone by, not one that is rapidly approaching. Christmas carols become associated with the cold and the snow. That's depressing for many people. So what do they do? Wish the Christmas carols would go away.

There might be other reasons. There's also the reasons we tell ourselves when we're hiding from the truth. I don't have all the answers. I just know I love Christmas music. In December or May, it doesn't matter. And I hope that maybe someday you'll learn to love it that much too.