“It’s not even Thanksgiving yet,” the complainers are complaining as they watch stores quickly fill with Christmas decorations and neighbors stringing lights already.
Yes, but they’re happy, it can be said of those stringing the lights.
It’s because of the association those holiday Christmas decorations have with pleasant memories from childhood, according to psychoanalyst Steve McKeown, who told Unilad in an interview, “In a world full of stress and anxiety people like to associate to things that make them happy and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood.”
Someone in Richmond’s Pecan Grove may be getting a jump on their neighbors. “It has been reported. I have not seen them myself,” says Tommi Jarrett, the Office Administrator of the Property Owner’s Association, a lilt in her voice, talking about a rumor that the holiday tradition of decorating with holiday lights is already underway. Pecan Grove is a destination community for people who enjoy the tradition of piling the family into the car and touring neighborhood Christmas light displays. “When you’re driving close to Pecan Grove, you can look up in the sky at night and there’s a glow because we have so many lights up,” says Jarrett. A survey of ABC13 viewers put Pecan Grove high up on a list of must-see Christmas Light displays in Houston. The community offers residents prizes for best decorations and many homes enjoy getting in on the act. The deadline to have them up…or to start touring Pecan Grove…is Sunday, November 25th.
The jump into Christmas season comes earlier with each year. A 2016 survey found 86% of people say November is too soon to put up decorations. Bah humbug, says the happy people.