Too Early for Christmas??

As I was sitting in the teachers' room at school today, the discussion turned to Christmas. There was frustration by several people that the stores were already selling Christmas decorations, Christmas music was being heard on the radio, television commercials were featuring Christmas sales, some people had their Christmas lights up, etc. The majority opinion was that it was too early for Christmas. "What happened to Thanksgiving?" our secretary (I love her to death) said. I suggested that Thanksgiving was part of the Christmas season. That idea went over like a fart in church. Nobody could believe that people had already started celebrating. I didn't dare tell them that Cara and I were planning on putting up our decorations in another week.
But this is how I figure it. We should celebrate Christmas all year long. Several of my family members keep a Nativity set up all year. Some years I do too, although this year we did not. To me, Christmas is the best time of the year, and why not celebrate it longer than a couple weeks. I really do believe that Thanksgiving is a part of the Christmas season, as is New Years.
What is thanksgiving all about? Giving thanks to God for all our good fortune. Isn't that the point of Christmas, too. To think about all the good there is in the world, to forget the bad, to thank God for Jesus, and to spend time with family and friends. That sounds like Thanksgiving and Christmas to me. Both are a time for family. I love both holidays equally. It's not the receiving of gifts that makes Christmas special, nor is it the giving of gifts (although I love watching people open gifts Cara and I have picked out). It's the family time that is most important.
Family time is so precious to me. Each year it gets harder and harder to find times when the whole family can get together. This year, thanks to email, we have actually worked it out so that everyone will be able to be together from the afternoon of the 25th of December to the morning of the 26th. Most of the family is spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our respective spouses' families, as this time is equally important. Cara and I will use the morning of the 25th as travel time, making the nearly six hour drive from Allagash to Searsport. We will have spent several days with Cara's parents and her brother and sister-in-law. Most of my side of the family will also be able to spend Thanksgiving together. Again, very precious time.
As the family gets bigger, it also spreads out. So why not spread the Christmas season out as well. It is most precious time, so make the most of it.