To listen or not to listen to Christmas Music and reflection on my SoCal Winters...

So the industry standard to listen to Christmas music is after Thanksgiving. I've often broken this rule several times because of a certain song by Mariah Carey which I happen to believe should be listened to year round, yes this one... http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=-8rY0Fyws20

After living on the east coast for the last 9 years, a certain thing called snow, has also put me in a mood to start listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. But what happens when it doesn't snow before Thanksgiving? Is it still ok?
I can't complain that it hasn't snowed yet because this years Western PA winter thus far reminds me of the cold, frigid, rough times of a Southern California winter. I'm not joking that we thought it was freezing in November, December and January. I distinctly remember going to school in a fleece and seeing other classmates in goose down parkas and Starter Jackets (You know what I'm talking about...I always wanted one, a Raiders one of course)


I also thought Winter ended in February and didn't know what being "Closed for the Season" meant until I went to college in Boston. I remember when I went home for Christmas break during my freshman year of college and I forced my high school friends to go to the beach. Anyways, I digress back to original topic, Christmas music.

Reasons to listen before Thanksgiving:
1. 30 days isn't enough to get your fix of songs that you can only listen to during one part of the year.
2. It helps you get into the Christmas Spirit. Not the Jesus is the reason for the season spirit, but the Buddy the Elf Christmas spirit that makes us feel all warm and goosey inside. (And yes maybe this is a reason to not listen to it because Jesus is the reason, but we often forget that)

3. Christmas decorations are up in malls and shops the day after Halloween so we might as well embrace it.
4. There aren't any Thanksgiving songs, except for Adam Sandler's "Turkey Song"

Reasons not to:
1. Some people don't like Christmas music. I will never understand this but I have friends who can't stand it.
2. You can't even say "Merry Christmas" anymore because it's PI, so why would you even think about listening to songs about it?
3. It's the same songs over and over, being sung by different people.



As for myself I have to admit I have sneaked in a little Mariah "All I want" and the Drifters "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas". I'm trying to ease myself into it. I haven't made a Christmas playlist on my itunes yet, but I think it's alright to want that Buddy the Elf feeling and you can only get it once a year, so you might as well try to get it going sooner rather then later.