Each year, Christmas comes earlier and earlier. I get that people love Christmas, but they are completely forgetting there are other holidays in between October and December. People are starting to forget about Halloween or Thanksgiving and want to skip right to the holly jolly time of the year. My question is why? Why don't we love all holidays equally?

My mom came to visit me in Phoenix the weekend of October 1^st this year. We went to Walmart to pick up a few things and in the garden center, I saw something that bewildered me— Christmas stuff! We have not even hit Halloween yet and they were setting out their plastic trees and seasonal outdoor décor.

Are Halloween and Thanksgiving not good enough for the world anymore? We are skipping dressing up in costumes and breaking out our Thanksgiving pants to set out mistletoe. We are missing trick or treating and cranberry stuffing to decorate a tree for the season. Are our kids going to forget about other holidays and just think "Christmas cannot come soon enough" in June?

Christmas is a great holiday. I enjoy giving gifts to people I love, to watch the cheesy Hallmark movies, and bake homemade cookies. I adore the meaning of Christmas – that God's son was born and that we get to celebrate the relationship we have with Christ. My favorite thing about Christmas would have to be our tradition of getting dressed into my pajama's and opening one gift on Christmas Eve with my family. This is something I want to pass on to my kids. But even though I love Christmas, we have other holidays to celebrate as well.

If we could only all treat Thanksgiving with the same amount of hype we treat Christmas then we would have two great, family-oriented holidays in a row. Halloween is fun for the children and Thanksgiving allows time to see one's relative's and eat a big feast. Christmas is both of those combined – fun, relatives, and eating.

One may argue that Christmas is the superior holiday because of the decorating aspect. What if we decorated for Halloween and Thanksgiving as we decorated for Christmas? Picture it – skeletons, pumpkins, and ghosts or fall leaves, turkey's and cornucopia's are decorating the halls of houses. Then when that is all over, then you can bring out the trees and wreaths for the merriest time of the year.

I promise I am not the Grinch for writing this article and feeling this way. I am just a girl who thinks that other holidays should not be overshadowed by the feelings of cheerfulness that Christmas brings. It just seems that each year it comes earlier. Maybe that is adulthood opening my eyes to the reality of the love for Christmas. Maybe it is really Christmas in September now. Either way, October 1^st is too early for holiday decorations to be out on the shelves at stores. Falling in love with other holiday's on top of Christmas can lead to the last quarter of the year is filled with festive celebrations.