Pumpkin Pancakes and Christmas Music

Last Saturday I was eating breakfast at an IHOP. I was knee deep in pumpkin pancakes when suddenly I became distracted. The music they had playing was all Christmas music. I was too outraged to eat. Ok that’s not true, but if pumpkin pancakes weren’t a seasonal, tasty delight, there’s a small chance I would have been too outraged to eat. Folks, this is too much. There is a time and place for holiday music and it certainly isn’t pre-Thanksgiving. This would be like playing country music before the 4^th of July. Unheard of!

Like my pancakes, Christmas music has a season. Part of what makes people love Christmas music is that you don’t hear it until a special time of year. If we start flooding the airwaves with “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” in mid-November, it won’t seem as special in mid-December.

I’m going to admit something now that is going to make people think I’m the worst person on earth. I don’t like Christmas music. In fact, I don’t like Christmas trees, I don’t like Christmas lights, and I don’t like eggnog. I have nothing against the holiday itself. I love Christmas time; people are happier and nicer and honestly, we should all act like that year round. I’m just the type of person who hates it when things are shoved down my throat (except for pumpkin pancakes). If you start playing Christmas music when it’s not Christmas time, the whole spirit of that time of year gets put in jeopardy. It’ll loose the special feeling you’re supposed to get when you hear it because you’ll have heard it for a month already.

Christmas and pumpkin pancakes are one and the same people. When I go out for breakfast I usually order some type of egg sandwich, maybe French toast if I’m feeling adventurous. But when I see pumpkin pancakes on the menu I know it’s going to be a meal that will last me to next winter when they will once again grace the menus of local diners. If they were on the menu year round then I wouldn’t be so excited when I see them on the "From the Griddle" section.

So what’s my point? Seriously, how have you not gotten it yet? I love pumpkin pancakes, they’re a perfect blend of sweet and spicy, they soak up syrup like a Downy paper-towel, and they make you feel like you’re wrapped in a blanket next to a fire. But if they start coming into diners earlier and stay longer, they’ll lose their specialness and they’ll just become pancakes. Stop playing Christmas music. Wait. Wait until it’s the right time, which in my opinion should be no later than Black Friday. Even then is a little early to me but hey, one step at a time.

-Jeff Kahn