I love this time of year because the seasons are transitioning and Christmas decorations are lining the shelves of stores. The only downfall is that Christmas music is now on the radio nonstop until Dec. 26.

Do not get me wrong; I love the Christmas season. I love seeing decorations; they are beautiful and bring out the child in a lot of people. When I was young, I looked at all the ornaments on Christmas trees and picked out my favorites. Sixteen years later, I find myself doing the same thing.

There are pretty decorations everywhere and people seem genuinely nicer as the spirit of giving takes over. I take pride in finding the perfect present for every person on my list. My favorite part of giving gifts is watching the expression on the recipient’s face when he or she opens the present that I gave them.

I put my Christmas tree up by Dec. 1 and I do not take it down until after New Year’s Day. I celebrate Christmas as long as I can, but I detest the fact that Christmas music is played continuously on the radio and in stores.

Christmas trees maintain their beauty all season, and I never become irritated by looking at them for a solid month and a half. Christmas music becomes irritating after about a month. There are so many variations of different, traditional Christmas songs, and it takes the meanings out of the songs for me. The song I dread hearing every year is the dogs barking to the tune of “Jingle Bells,” because it just ruins a classic. When the dogs are barking and the lyric “dashing through the snow,” pop into my head, I think of the dogs running the Iditarod.

I can only listen to “The Christmas Song,” and “The First Noel,” so many times before it starts driving me crazy. When Christmas music starts playing on Nov. 1, by Thanksgiving I am ready for the music to stop, and it starts ruining my Christmas spirit. If people did not make crazy versions of traditional songs, I might love the music for the whole season. But the same goofy versions being played over and over from Nov. 1 to Dec. 25 make me lose my mind and beg radio stations to please hold off on the Christmas music until December.