Ah, the holidays—a time filled with gift-giving, delightful wintry cheer, and a promising new year. But what happens when that spirit is obstructed by the hackneyed displaying of decorations, stringing of lights, and playing of Christmas tunes? Nausea, that’s what.

These days, the holiday season is so commercialized. The moment Halloween ends, stores are already displaying holiday-themed decorations and hosting imposter Santas.

Is it too much to ask for the Thanksgiving leftovers to be gone before we bring out the Christmas lights, tunes and trees?

97.1, the Variety station now designated as the Christmas station, started pumping out the peppy carols two days before Thanksgiving festivities even began.

The point of the holidays is to appreciate all you have, enjoy spending quality time with family, and of course give and receive (but mostly receive) gifts. When the holiday season starts so early, the special sacredness of presents under a Christmas tree loses its sanctity.

Granted, this “early bird catches the presents” mentality seems to be aimed only towards Christmas. You don’t see an excessive amount of Hanukkah or Kwanzaa trinkets lining the grocery store shelves or the mall.

Now don’t get me wrong—I love Christmas time. I especially love the week leading up to the 25th, when everyone is excited for break, wrapping up their last-minute gifts, and planning for their trip to who-knows-where.

And the week before that isn’t bad either, filled with suspense and desire for those days off of school, an occasional snow shower, and a nice fire or two.

But any celebration before that is just overkill, and detracts from the actual holidays. The holidays need to be sacred. It’s a time that only occurs once a year, and is special while it lasts, but after that it’s over.

Beginning the holidays sooner than expected does not help you keep the jolly times around longer. All it does is provide a diluted sense of longevity, but in reality the holidays are going to end soon. You just have to accept the facts and enjoy the allotted time assigned to the holidays between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2—and maybe just a tiny bit before that.