By Camille Mercer | M•I•A MEDIA GROUP

The Halloween candy is still on the counter. Nobody has decided who’s bringing the macaroni and cheese to Thanksgiving. And somewhere, someone has already put Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” on repeat.

Is it too early? For one song on the drive home, probably not. For an all-day Christmas playlist before the Thanksgiving menu is settled, absolutely.

Carey’s holiday anthem has become a cultural starting gun. The opening bells can make you think about wrapping paper and a Christmas tree even when you’re sitting in South Florida traffic with the air conditioning on. That’s part of the song’s charm. It can change the mood before the weather gives us any reason to.

There’s a good case for playing it early. For some people, holiday music brings back memories of a parent singing in the kitchen or a house full of cousins. Others put it on because they’ve had a long week and want four minutes of something familiar and joyful. There’s no reason to make them wait until the turkey comes out of the oven.

But Thanksgiving has its own pleasures, and they deserve a little room. There’s the debate over whose dressing recipe to use, the cousin who shows up with foil and a plan for leftovers, and the moment when people who usually communicate through a family group chat finally sit down at the same table. For families spread across different cities, that meal may be the one time all year they get to catch up in person.

There’s also a middle ground for anyone who wants a festive soundtrack without jumping straight to Christmas. Put on the music your family actually cooks to. In one house that might be soul or gospel. In another it might be salsa or kompa. The best Thanksgiving playlist might be the one that gets somebody to set down a serving spoon and tell you where they were the first time they heard that song.

November feels shorter when every store, every commercial and every public playlist is already counting down to Christmas. A song you chose because it lifted your spirits hits differently when you hear it for the third time while standing in line to buy sweet potatoes. A few weeks of anticipation can make the music feel special when it finally takes over.

Of course, South Florida makes its own rules about what the holidays should feel like. We can put up lights in shorts, eat Thanksgiving dinner outside and hear Christmas music with the car windows down. If a song is what gets you into the spirit, go ahead and play it. Just give the rest of us a little time before you take over the speakers.

My vote is to play Mariah when the mood strikes and save the full Christmas rotation for the day after Thanksgiving. By then, the leftovers will be in the fridge, the family group chat will be full of pictures, and those opening bells will sound just right.