We want to talk about a deep divide between two ideological camps that are not political.

Those who believe one should not celebrate Christmas until after Thanksgiving has passed and those who believe you can do so after Halloween.

With Thanksgiving falling later in the month this year than in 2018, there have been far more grumblings about when other people can start celebrating the holidays. Comparatively, in 2019 Americans will have six more days to wait if they’re in the “no decorations until after Thanksgiving” camp.

Of course, a large part of this conversation is that retailers have started promoting the sales of tree decorations, wares and goods before Halloween has come and gone. A longer holiday “season” benefits these businesses hoping to sell us more useless junk than ever before. Take Black Friday — no longer largely taking place on Friday; most shoppers will have missed the best doorbusters if they wait until Friday morning and don’t go on Thanksgiving day.

However, we acknowledge that many people just merely love the festive decorations and the joyful spirit they bring to a home for such a small portion of the year. Utah is no exception; we love lights, multiple decorated trees, plenty of hot cocoa and festive performances.

Just this last week we heard of an experience in Orem where one family was setting up decorations outside while the weather was relatively warm, and a group of young men came up and started cursing out the woman doing so with threats.

Is this what the divide has come to? It’s gone from funny, albeit judgmental, memes on social media about waiting to celebrate Christmas to making verbal threats in our local neighborhoods because others are decorating “too early”? This behavior doesn’t embody the meaning of the holidays — which is love, kindness, service and joy — and it most definitely doesn’t illustrate thanksgiving and coming together as families and communities.

We have so many blessings living in Utah County. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if some residents start celebrating Christmas six to 12 days early or wait until 12 hours after the Thanksgiving holiday. If that’s where your principles stand, then you’re likely not embodying the spirt of either holiday. After all, if something drives a person to show more gratitude or think more of others, who are we to quash it?