It’s the morning after Halloween, and the entire house is filled to the brim with fluorescent Christmas lights, miniature Santas and plastic reindeer scattered across the bright and sunny lawn.
This isn’t just about decor; it points to a larger issue: rushing through a season meant for gratitude and reflection. While the allure of the holiday season is undeniable, decorating too early can overshadow Thanksgiving — a holiday with deep historical roots and a message of appreciation.
Thanksgiving is more than a day filled with turkey and football. Its origins trace back to 1621 when Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans shared a three–day feast celebrating a successful harvest after having difficulty with cultivation earlier on. While the true relationship between the two groups was far more complicated than the harmonious scenes often depicted, the idea of gratitude has remained. Centuries later, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln formally acknowledged Thanksgiving as a national holiday during the Civil War, encouraging Americans to give thanks amid hardship and seek union among differences of opinion, according to visit.archives.gov. Thanksgiving is steeped in principles of resilience, unity and gratitude — values that are easy to overlook when the holiday is treated as a mere prelude to Christmas.
Immediately decorating after Halloween is dismissive of the spirit of Thanksgiving. This holiday offers a chance to reflect and appreciate what already exists before the frenzy of gift–giving and festivity begins. Gratitude is replaced by the rush to bask in Christmas cheer weeks ahead of schedule. People skip past a holiday that 81% of Americans celebrate, almost as many as the 85% who celebrate Christmas, according to statista.com. Thanksgiving does not deserve to be overshadowed by candy canes and blinking lights.
Retail culture plays a significant role in driving this phenomenon. Stores are often the first to jumpstart Christmas, rolling out holiday merchandise and advertisements even before Halloween ends. These early displays create a sense of urgency for consumers to begin their holiday preparations. Many follow modern patterns by putting up their decorations earlier and earlier. Around 34% of Americans put up decorations before Thanksgiving in 2024, according to and 24% of people decorate earlier than they did five years ago according to todayshomeowner.com and silive.com. The earlier the season starts, the easier it becomes to forget to live each day as it comes.
Some argue that decorating early extends the season of joy, especially for families with children who delight in the lights and magic of Christmas. This perspective carries weight, but it doesn’t have to come at the expense of Thanksgiving.
Christmas is a special time, amplified by the anticipation leading up to it. Traditionally, the post–Thanksgiving weekend had marked the start of the season before the commercialization and impatience began. It was a time for picking out trees, stringing lights and hanging ornaments. This gradual buildup gives each part of the holiday season its significance. When decorations go up in early November — or even October — the magic becomes stretched too thin, leaving the holiday feeling more routine than extraordinary. By the time Christmas Day arrives, the novelty of the festive decor may have worn off, and it cannot live up to the expectations building for so long.
Rushing into Christmas decorating not only diminishes the importance of Thanksgiving but also undermines the unique magic of the holiday season. Thanksgiving offers a moment to reflect on blessings and cherish the present while Christmas celebrates joy, giving and connection. Both hold significant meaning and deserve to be celebrated fully, in their proper time.
