October is nearly over, and Christmas fanatics everywhere are going crazy knowing they’re that much closer to the holidays.
I, for one, am not. For me, Christmas used to be a great time of the year where I was able to spend time with my family and friends.
From going to celebrating Halloween with friends, stuffing my face during Thanksgiving, and finally being able to participate in decorating trees and playing in the snow, I loved Christmas growing up.
However, working in retail warped that perception a long time ago.
My former place of employment was a grocery store, which meant the number of shoppers in the store was, by definition, “a nightmare before Christmas.” Everyone always was shopping last minute and showed little to no appreciation of those working during the holidays.
No more did I wish to hear the jingling of bells; no more did I want to dash through the snow.
That’s right: compared to the other problems I faced during this time of year, holiday songs are the Grinches who stole my Christmas.
If you don’t understand my struggle, then remember all of those times in your life when some song on the radio was played a million times during the summer, and by the end you hated it. Now imagine that one song was playing on a loop with about ten other songs you hate for seven years straight.
Working in retail meant as soon as Nov. 1 hit, Christmas music was on constant rotation until pretty much March.
I experienced this nightmare for seven years — seven years of hearing not only the cheesy tunes but the hits of Michael Buble. The funny thing is some of the songs aren’t even meant for Christmas. TIME magazine discusses how “Jingle Bells” is often associated with Christmas time, but was actually created for Thanksgiving.
Thankfully I can still enjoy one song: “Carol of the Bells” by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The fact the song plays no lyrics makes it an enduring classic in Christmas history.