# Do you listen to Christmas music outside of Christmas time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782 "2019-08-17T03:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/1 "2019-08-17T03:47:47Z")
Let’s define Christmas time as between American Thanksgiving and New Years Day. Do you listen to Christmas music outside of that general time frame? I do not and it’s caused quite a blowup on Twitter tonight. My favorite bar will skip any Christmas music played on the jukebox outside of that time frame. The only exception I make is for part of Handel’s Messiah since part of it is appropriate for Easter. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/2 "2019-08-17T03:49:57Z")
No. Or voluntarily during Christmas season. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/3 "2019-08-17T04:49:35Z")
What **Procrustus** said. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/4 "2019-08-17T05:19:42Z")
Considering Christmas time is now about a third of the year, it’s hard to avoid. I don’t seek it out. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/5 "2019-08-17T05:30:43Z")
95% of Christmas music is shit. Why spread around the shit more than it already is? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/6 "2019-08-17T05:49:07Z")
My best friend in junior high and high school had a dorky older brother. A year or two older. One year, he got into a total Christmas kick in July. Christmas tree, fake presents underneath and Christmas music every day, all day. What an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/7 "2019-08-17T06:19:03Z")
I have almost 30,000 tracks on my computer, all of which I play randomly. Of these, 529 are “holiday” songs. They get played like all the others. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/8 "2019-08-17T10:34:14Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > No. Or voluntarily during Christmas season. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/9 "2019-08-17T10:42:01Z")
Even though I don’t particularly care for Xmas music, it tends to be an ear worm that doesn’t evacuate my brain until sometime in February. That’s why I hate it! So no. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/10 "2019-08-17T13:13:18Z")
Yes, I play it all year long. Except, what I listen to out of season tends to be Classical works, folk songs or instrumental. The typical Christmas music I start listening to in late October, when the new albums come out. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/11 "2019-08-17T13:28:17Z")
Yes. We play Christmas music through at least half of January. We create our own season boundaries, we don’t let “big holiday”\* set the terms for what we enjoy. We don’t think the season is defined by what the stores put in the “seasonal” aisles. Why should the season end just because you can buy Valentine’s candy? And The Nutcracker isn’t Christmas music. Oh yes we need a little Christmas Right this very minute! \*Christmas is run by a big eastern syndicate, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/12 "2019-08-17T13:39:22Z")
No. I believe in confining it to its proper season. [This article](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/getting-over-the-horror-of-the-same-old-thing/) does a good job of explaining why seasons are a good thing. > [@](#): > > To balance the need for novelty, with the need for familiarity, you persist in the same things, but keep them fresh by breaking them into phases or “seasons.” > > This dynamic works on a couple of levels. > > First, by not doing the exact same things _all the time_, you don’t grind down events/experiences until you become desensitized to their enticements and they lose their pleasure. By spacing them out, you can repeat the same things over and over, but they retain a degree of novelty and pleasure each time they come back around. > > Second, by scheduling certain things as reoccurring events on your calendar, you get the pleasure of looking forward to them. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/13 "2019-08-17T13:44:35Z")
I don’t listen to my Christmas MP3s outside of the season, but there’s a lot of Christmas music I enjoy playing on the piano; I’ll break out that sheet music once or twice during the spring/summer/fall. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/14 "2019-08-17T14:23:40Z")
Never. And when the Ms starts in on that at any other time of year, I give her a firm “Just stop it!” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/15 "2019-08-17T16:01:00Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > No. Or voluntarily during Christmas season. This ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/16 "2019-08-17T16:06:17Z")
Only the [Carols For A Cure](https://broadwaycares.stores.yahoo.net/caforcucds.htm) CDS, the BEST holiday music going. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/17 "2019-08-17T16:06:17Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > \ The typical Christmas music I start listening to in late **October** , when the new albums come out. (bolding mine) You meant June, didn’t you? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/18 "2019-08-17T16:37:56Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > No. Or voluntarily during Christmas season. Another vote for Procrustus. j ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/19 "2019-08-17T17:31:01Z")
No, and I don’t want to hear it in November or December either! Its like Christmas takes over and theres no way to opt out.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782/20 "2019-08-17T20:30:45Z")
Heck yes. When it gets to 115°F and I have to go for a long drive I pop in a Christmas album and sing along hoping that my stupid brain will convince my body that it’s cooler than it actually is. I started doing this on motorcycle rides across the desert and expanded it into 4 wheel vehicles. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-listen-to-christmas-music-outside-of-christmas-time/838782.md?page=2)