Imagine yourself walking into a grocery store the day after Halloween and then suddenly you start hearing Christmas music. Everything is decorated with candy canes and gigantic Christmas trees wait to be picked up in the adjacent lot. This never ending debate returns every holiday season.

Some people think that you should listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, claiming that it will get you ready for the holiday season. The other side of the argument is that people should start listening to Christmas music after Halloween.

“While Thanksgiving is a very significant holiday that deserves its own spotlight, I believe that Christmas music should start playing the week after Halloween.” says freshman Isabella Dudas. “Halloween has a completely different mood than Christmas, so it makes sense to wait until everyone has transitioned out of their costumes and candy and into the stockings and candy cane spirits. No Christmas is complete without a soundtrack.”

However, there are studies that show that Christmas music is bad for the brain. A psychologist from Great Britain, Linda Blair, said that when you listen to Christmas music too early, it reminds of you of all of the stressful things that happen during the holidays. She talked about how listening to the music too early gives you anxiety about the holiday.  

Other people think it should play after Thanksgiving.  Scanlan center teacher Mrs. Erica Fuja thinks Christmas music should begin playing after Thanksgiving: “I think that it should start in November, maybe the middle of November or something. I like the build up it creates to Christmas and the excitement you feel when you hear it because it brings you back to those happy memories. I think when they start it constantly on November first, by the time Christmas rolls around, people are tired of it. On the radio it’s the same songs over and over. I did find last year by the time Christmas came, I wasn’t listening to it anymore.”

Additionally, there are studies that show that Christmas music is bad for the brain. A psychologist from Great Britain, Linda Blair, said that when you listen to Christmas music too early, it reminds of you of all of the stressful things that happen during the holidays. She talked about how listening to the music too early, gives you anxiety about the holiday.

Apparently, people can get sick of Christmas music easily. Freshman Ashley Edgeworth agrees with Mrs. Fuja. “Christmas music should start being played around mid-November because it seems to start too early.”

Often times, people become sick of holiday music way before the Christmas season even begins.

Freshman,  Ashleigh Jarvis-Flinn thinks Christmas music should be a “December only marathon after thanksgiving, it’s Christmas music all day everyday. After a while though, the same songs are overplayed and it gets quite annoying.”

When Christmas music should start being played is an interesting, but controversial topic. It seems to really depend on when the Christmas season starts for you. Does it start right after Halloween, after Thanksgiving, or in the middle of December?  It also depends on if you enjoy Christmas music or not, and how much of it you can take. There is also the topic of when the radio should start playing Christmas music. That depends on when the companies believe that the music should start being played.

This could be determined on polls by listeners, or the employees, or it could be one person from the group of employees who decides. The radio station might not want to play Christmas music at all, depending on whether they believe listeners would want to tune in to their station if they were playing this music. Christmas music is an exciting sign that the holidays are coming, and the topic of when it should be start being played will continue to be debated for many years to come.