The long-fought controversy that's plagued the world for millennia: when is the appropriate time to start celebrating Christmas? How soon is too soon to blast "Jingle Bells" and put on your best Mariah Carey with "All I Want for Christmas is You"? Should you be wrapping gifts before dressing a turkey? The world may never have a definitive answer on the most appropriate timeline between Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.

One thing known for sure is that even acknowledging Christmas pre-Halloween is a tremendous sin. You can't jump the gun that early, my friends. However, as soon as the fake cobwebs and jack-o-lanterns come down, there are not too many reasons not to start considering when those lights and Christmas trees will go up. In my mind, Christmas is a seasonal holiday, while Thanksgiving is more of a one-day thing. Yes, some people may love the "fall decor" and want to put up a bunch of fake leaves or reds, yellows, and oranges throughout their home, but even that isn't necessarily representative of Thanksgiving.

If everyone immediately transitions themselves from Thanksgiving mode to Christmas mode the second it hits midnight on Black Friday (or even earlier in recent history), why can't you start that preparation a little earlier? You're not going to just mindlessly get in line at 8 pm on Thanksgiving waiting to force your way into a Walmart without planning out gifts for people ahead of time, you're going to have to think about Christmas. The same people yelling at you to shut your "Jingle Bell Rock" off are the same ones plotting their mall takeover strategy for Black Friday.

At this point in time, nearly 2 weeks out from Thanksgiving, it is most certainly not too early to think about the Christmas season. I only celebrate Thanksgiving for about 6 hours, but my Christmas parties and celebrations last at least two weeks, or more, leading up to the big day, plus days beyond it.

Before you go on to say that somehow Thanksgiving is also a season, let me stop you there. The only prep time required for Thanksgiving is really to the cook, who may need a few days of understandable prep, but the majority of individuals are not decorating their homes with lights or polishing their silver. They're not going to look at fields of turkeys with their kids, saying "Daddy, I want to take that one home." Thanksgiving is a one-day event that just happens to be the "official" start of Christmas season, but don't let that misguide you of the "unofficial" start, which was November 1st.

If your friends or family want to celebrate Christmas early, let them. If they want to tweet a countdown starting the day after Halloween, let them. If they want to put up their artificial tree and decorate it, let them (maybe just advise against a real one early, because of potential death and fire hazard). Just because you're a holiday purist and believe that there must be complete segregation of Thanksgiving and Christmas, then "Bah humbug" to you Mr. Scrooge, go take your Grinch behavior elsewhere.