After a very un-Christmassy Christmas in London last year, in which Boris Johnson asked the public to keep Christmas celebrations short and sweet, shops seem more eager than ever to start Christmas as early as possible. John Lewis’ Christmas shop sprouted overnight and New Look’s Christmas playlist was first played in October.

 

But when is it too early to play Christmas songs? Mariah Carey, whose “All I want for Christmas is you” is the most streamed Christmas song according to Official Charts, told Jimmy Fallon she has to “try to get through Thanksgiving [4th Thursday of November]” before playing any Christmas anthems. Ben, a John Lewis employee, who has had to endure listening to Christmas songs for a month, disagrees and said it was only acceptable to play Christmas songs in December. Whilst preparing the Christmas Shop at the start of November, he explained “I personally find it [the Christmas playlist] really annoying”. He, along with 49% of students aged 15-18 who completed a survey in West London, believed Christmas songs should only be played in December. Other survey responses include “December 1st and I stand by that” and “I am guilty of Christmasing in November so I am morally impure”.

 

The never-ending lockdowns last year, along with the strict tier system the government put in place to minimise the spread of COVID-19, affected shops’ incomes as well as the overall spirit of the public due to the majority of Christmas shopping taking place online. Non-essential travel was warned against and social distancing measures were firmly in place so the welcoming and warming atmosphere Christmas so often brings was lost. Therefore, this year, shops are pushing for as early a Christmas as possible with advertisements coming out at the beginning of October. Yet, it can be argued this ruins the holiday anticipation: Very, an online department store, released a Christmas themed advert on television at the start of October but the public were quick to tweet it was premature with one user saying it made them “feel sick”. Despite Very explaining they wanted “to get into the spirit early” due to the “last-minute lockdowns” people went through in 2020, it is clear to see not everyone is happy and there is a concern the merry Christmas spirit will be lost due to the constant rush of Christmas songs and adverts being presented for over two and a half months.

 

Perhaps the answer is to embrace Christmas this year; with over 115,000,000 vaccinations already given, the public are far more hopeful than last year that Christmas will be fulfilling and family and friends can safely meet up once again. And although the majority of us do not agree with Wizzard when they say they “wish it could be Christmas every day”, it’s safe to assume we would rather have an early Christmas than no Christmas at all.