On Halloween, stores all over the Valley were clearing off their shelves to replace their merchandise with Christmas decorations. The colors changed from yellow and orange to red and green before even half the dry leaves could fall off the trees around us.

The holiday season came upon us quickly this year, and with the holiday cups in our favorite coffee shops, and decorations all over the stores, it seems Christmas has already overtaken us all.

So is Christmas in October too early? The answer is yes, because it’s not Christmas we’re celebrating, but our American tradition of buying things we don’t need.

No other three months in the year have more celebrated holidays than October, November and December.

The normal progression of the holiday box of American tradition is to celebrate fall with Halloween, celebrate the people and things we already have with Thanksgiving, give and receive things we often don’t need with Christmas, then kiss goodbye the holidays season with a midnight party for New Year’s.

But if you were to look at the corporate world, the only holidays you would think exist are Halloween and Christmas because pumpkin merchandise hit the shelves as early as late August, and Christmas supplies, as early as late September.

Part of the reason we don’t see many Thanksgiving or New Year’s supplies released so early into stores is because these holidays are not very marketable.

For Thanksgiving, people buy serveware and food. For New Year’s, people buy streamers and food. There’s no need to market, these things sell themselves

But for Christmas, and even Halloween, there is a myriad of different things that companies would like to sell you, things that they want to get in front of your eyes as soon as they can.

Part of what makes Christmas so special however, is that it only comes once a year, and part of what makes its flavors and sounds so sweet is that they’re only available at that time.

Companies all over America want to capitalize on the sweet sights of Christmas, but the problem with this early marketing is we’ll be sick of the wreaths in the mall and the holiday flavors before December can even darken our doorstep.

In addition, with all the focus on Christmas, and the way it looks this year, we tend to overlook Thanksgiving. We start to engage in Christmas shopping at the beginning of November as we enjoy our favorite winter lattes in redesigned red or blue cups.But with all this attention on a holiday that is more than a month away, making dinner and being thankful for the people and things we already have almost feels like an afterthought.

Isn’t it ironic that the holiday that we focus on the least is the one that promotes being thankful for everything you already have?

It’s not just ironic, it’s quite intentional. Companies can’t sell you things you don’t need when you’re happy with what you have. So advertisements, stores, and coffee shops are going to get you looking farther ahead than is necessary, but you can’t fully enjoy life when you are looking too far ahead.

Being bombarded by Christmas-themed items all over the corporate world has served as a reminder that Christmas really is right around the corner.

More than we need a reminder that it is about that time of year that we exchange gifts with our loved ones, we need a reminder that we love and enjoy them solely because of who they are, not because of what they give or receive.

I think the best thing about the progression of our holiday season is that we are thankful before we are giving.

So before we get caught in the hustle and bustle of buying things we don’t need, let’s enjoy the season that we’re in to its fullest. What does November offer that December does not? We must relish the moment that we’re in, enjoying it to the fullest.

Twenty-five days of our culture’s extravagant Christmas is plenty of time to reach our Christmas quota for the whole year. Maybe we need more than one day however, to focus on being thankful.

Read the CON side of this debate here.