By: Lathan “Laytin” Gil
With the ending of the Halloween season, Mariah Carey uploaded her annual “It’s Time” video, which signifies the start of the Christmas season!
These videos started in 2019 simply as a joke Mariah thought of. “I never thought ‘It’s Time’ would become as significant as it became. I just simply had an idea. I don’t know how long ago because I don’t acknowledge time, but I had asked my makeup artist to help me film it, and suddenly it became this big thing dahling!” Mariah said in an interview on the Jennifer Hudson show in 2024.
What About Thanksgiving?
Some people however, have an issue with this. Saying that we have to celebrate Thanksgiving before even thinking about Christmas. See me now personally, I’m festive. I celebrate Christmas as soon as Halloween is over. But in a conversation, Ellis Foreman ‘27 co-host of Wake Up Rider on 107.7 The Bronc, I discovered he doesn’t agree with my theory, “Can we stop with Christmas so early? I mean, it’s too early. Thanksgiving is important too. Spending time with family and speaking about what you’re thankful for, we need more of that today, Thanksgiving is important. After that, we can talk about Christmas.”
The controversy of “When does Christmas start?” has become a very popular debate. But Andrew Lakkas ‘29 doesn’t believe that the debate should even be had, “Both holidays are about coming together with your family. Why is there such a discourse? Either way you’re spending time with loved ones and showing what you’re grateful for within the past year.”
Why Does Mariah Carey Care About Christmas So Much?
The proclaimed “Queen of Christmas” (she really wants to emphasize that she did not come up with that herself and that people started calling her that using their free will), Mariah Carey mentioned in her memoir ‘The Meaning of Mariah Carey’ that Christmas is one of her favorite holidays. And that it comes from childhood and a hope for happiness. “As a kid we never really had a ‘Christmas’. We were really poor and were moving around a lot. That’s why Christmas is as important to me now. I want to have the happiness and traditions that I didn’t get to have as a kid. I want to give my kids something that I couldn’t have. I brought my family to Aspen to celebrate Christmas. With the snow and cabins that I always imagined having as a kid during that season.”
That Hit Song That Goes #1 Every Year …
After 19 #1 singles, Mariah’s last #1 hit was actually “All I Want For Christmas is You”, topping the charts at #1 for the first time in 2019, 25 years after its initial release! When creating it, Mariah just said she wanted to create something timeless. In an interview in 1994 on EXTRA she stated “I wanted to create a song that would be timeless and something that would last. I wrote the song by myself in 15 minutes, then me and Walter Afanessief got together to create the music. Actually, every instrument on that song is digital except the vocals. It took about a few hours to record. And after it was done, something in me knew it would be a hit.”
Be Festive When You Want!
Andrew Lakkas is a self proclaimed “ambassador” for Christmas. And he feels like the holidays should just be celebrated in whatever manner people want to, “It shouldn’t even be a debate. People should be festive whenever they want. It’s free will. Why do people think Christmas in July is a thing? Celebrate any holiday and get ready for it when you want to.”
Actually, Mariah Carey in another interview on Good Morning America after “All I Want For Christmas is You” went #1 spoke about how she prepared to record her first Christmas album, “Merry Christmas.” saying that she had to prepare for Christmas WAAYYY before the holiday. “I recorded the album in the summer of 1994. It came out in October of that year. In order to get myself into the festive mindset I put up Christmas trees in every room of my house, I put up all the Christmas decorations you could think of to get into that space in my head.”
ITS TIMEEEEE!!!
Seeeee, so even Mariah had to start celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving was even in sight! If she can do it, anybody can dahling!
Me personally, when Mariah says “It’s Time” then ITS TIMEEEEEE (high note). Thanksgiving does not prevent you from getting ready for the holiday season!
Go to 107.7 The Bronc to listen to all the Christmas songs you want to hear beginning Friday, November 27, or listen to the biggest hits and best variety on your 2026 NAB Marconi Radio Award for College Radio Station of the Year until after Thanksgiving! No harm either way! It’s getting colder and that glorious Christmas holiday is coming one day at a time!