On 1 November, Mariah Carey officially started defrosting. Perhaps it took a full night and her defrosting process was scheduled for the night of Halloween so she would be ready at the commencement of November. We all know what Mariah Carey brings, All I Want for Christmas is You and that kickstarts the race for which Christmas songs follow Carey’s holiday hit.
One might ask themselves, “when is it deemed appropriate to play Christmas music?” and numerous answers are given; such a question only has two categorised answers: No, December time is only for Christmas music and yes, November time is appropriate to play Christmas music. However, I fall into the category of the yes factor; that November is allowed to have its Christmas music played.
If we really think about it, every holiday season is prepared for the month previous; January displays all their Valentine’s Day products in preparation for February, September is preparation time for October with Halloween sweets hitting the supermarket shelves and spooky décor in most retail outlets. Following that quick lesson, it is easy to see that November is December’s preparation month for all things holly and jolly.
If you do not believe me, there are many examples of this all over Galway city. Brown Thomas had their Christmas displays up the week before Halloween, The Christmas Market officially opened for business on 10 November and shopping centres were busy decorating for 1 November. I think it is time that we face the music – literally. Christmas season has arrived and we must embrace it.
I have heard whisperings that Christmas music is being played too early especially in most shopping centres; the speakers have a Christmas music station on and it plays all day. A co-worker of mine is of two minds about the whole ideal; she loves singing along to the festive songs, but she thinks it is way too early for them to be played. This is not bias, but it is a common fact that those who believe it is too early to play Christmas music will be disappointed because there are no way businesses will stop playing Christmas songs to accommodate a small amount of people. In my house, Christmas music was always played in November because that is the time when we would put up the tree and decorate the house while a Christmas music channel was on the television belting out tunes.
Music is a way of life for a lot of people and in Ireland, November time is an acceptable month to start playing Christmas songs. It makes people happy. It gets us in the mood for the upcoming winter season full of lights, presents and family time. There is a reason why there’s memes all over social media that Mariah is defrosting, it is because she is ready to sing her tune again and to tell you that all she wants for Christmas is for you to listen to Christmas music if you want to in November. It’s not a Christmas crime – literally.
Rachel Garvey is a Co-Editor for Features for Student Independent News for the year 2023/24. She works full-time, but dedicates her free time to writing and being involved in SIN. Rachel has been a contributor to SIN since 2017.