CHRISTMAS has a unique magic, and the season can’t start too soon (Shutterstock).

Have you seen that TV commercial – I think it was for Mercedes Benz – in which a family is riding in a car and there’s some disagreement about when it’s the right time to listen to Christmas music on the radio?

I had to smile, because I await the return of holiday tunes like a dog waiting for dinner. Impatient and then, finally, silly happy. But in a totally dignified way.

The same thing with the approach of Thanksgiving, marked by the re-appearance of pumpkin spice coffee drinks at Starbucks, and probably at every other joint that serves hot caffeine beverages. I think if someone could figure out a way to inject pumpkin spice into novocaine you’d see a spike in visits to the dentist in October and November.

Regardless of our age, I think most people react emotionally to these harbingers of the seasons. The debut of “back-to-school” supplies at Target and Walmart bring smiles to parents and frowns to kids (and probably a lot of teachers, too).

On the other hand, the coming of fall signals not just a return to the classroom, but also the start of football season, a kind of 18

-week holiday that brings people together in support of their local team, especially if it covers the spread.
But Christmas … that touches the heart in a way that no other part of the calendar does. Regardless of your faith – or no faith – it has the ability to take you back to the simpler time of your youth, when you had no responsibilities and you had nothing to do but anything at all.

You got gifts and lots of once-a-year chow and memories – most of them good, I hope – that will last a lifetime. So as far as I am concerned, you can crank up the Perry Como and “Santa Baby” in August.

In a world full of ups and downs, I’ll take The Twelve Days of Christmas over spring break or the playoffs any day. And when you go to the store, get me some of those red and green M&Ms, too, will ya?