A few years ago, a picture of someone protesting with the sign “Stop Premature Christmas Decorating!” went viral, and I think it is fair to say that many of us have experienced similar feelings. We all have been exposed to the horrific sight of Christmas decorations popping up in stores in the middle of October. Before we can even decide on our Halloween costumes, stores assault us with red and green instead of orange and black and give out candy canes instead of candy corn.

The question we all need to ask ourselves is why has this complete violation of respect for holidays been allowed. While shopping for accessories for my Halloween costume this year, I walked into a fabric store that had already cleared out most of its Halloween supplies in order to make way for new ones. By prematurely clearing out their stores of all things Halloween, store managers lose all of the customers who have waited until last minute to get their Halloween costume, which is essentially everyone.

This phenomenon is taking place nationwide. In fact, on change.org, someone has created a petition to Stop Premature Christmas Decorating. So far, this petition has a staggering 15 supporters. In addition entire Facebook page titled “Stop Premature Christmas Decorations” has been created in a form of protest of this phenomenon.

For too long, stores have pushed us around and made us think two months in advance regarding the winter holidays. We have not been allowed to fully engage in the spirit of Halloween. We cannot even appreciate the fall because we are thinking winter. In fact, this practice has not allowed us to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner to the fullest of our abilities, perhaps the most flagrant violation of them all. This phenomenon has taken some joy out of food! I did not think that was even possible!

While most of us may not be able to vote, we can still rally around this ever important cause. We can can complain if we cannot find costumes the day before Halloween and refuse to buy anything Christmas related before Thanksgiving! Together, we can stop the phenomenon that is known as Premature Christmas Decorating!