We are entering the gauntlet. A red, fuzzy, candy coated, pine-scented and streamer-strung gauntlet. It’s now the holiday season, so fasten your red and white striped seatbelt.

Your senses are going to be bombarded, your tolerance for humanity tested and your patience stretched thin.

In all seriousness, we need to find meaning and find it before the season slips away. And there’s no shopping spree, eggnog latte or woven hat that will give us the purpose we crave in the holidays.

I was driving around the weekend before Halloween, and to my utter horror I saw a Christmas display in the window of the Walgreens on Northeast 50th.

Not a “Christmas Is Only Two Months Away” banner, but a legitimate Christmas exhibit, complete with red felt, candy and numerous other trifles that usually grace these monstrosities.

I almost swerved off the road. Disturbing, to say the least, but this is not the first case of premature holiday release I’ve seen.

Are we that impatient? Does our culture really demand our holiday season to start before Halloween? This is an outrage. All the Christmas decorations used to go up after Thanksgiving, but apparently The Nightmare Before Christmas is coming true, and all the lines are being blurred in pan-holiday sludge.

More than ever before, we need to turn to the people closest to us to find meaning in the holiday season. One of the best things we can do is to observe traditions. Traditions are what keep the November to New Years stretch special.

My family has observed a few distinct ones throughout the years. Everyone agrees to not drink an eggnog or peppermint beverage from a coffee shop until after Thanksgiving.

We keep December sacred by limiting our seasonal treats, and we go out together for holiday delicacies instead of scarfing them down in private. We watch certain movies that only get brought out around this time every year.

Joy has to be cultivated in the holiday season. Don’t take my criticisms of consumerism wrongly. It’s okay to despise gold tinsel and poinsettias in late October, but let them usher in the holiday spirit in December.

How are you going to truly simplify your holiday this year? The best way to avoid stress is to tone down your schedule and commitments. Don’t overextend yourself with Thanksgiving and Christmahanukkwanzaa in the not-so-distant future.

One way is to give simpler gifts. Such an emphasis is placed by our culture on buying ostentatious gifts that a simple card doesn’t suffice anymore. We feel expected to deliver with pricey presents that are well chosen, timed and wrapped.

But something more personal and from the heart is always better. It gives you both a better feeling as the giver, and means more to the recipient. Boxes that meow, vibrate, explode or drip do not count as meaningful gifts.

It’s good to do shopping before your respective holiday is a day away and you’re pulling your hair out from gift-picking pressure. Thank me later for the pertinent reminder.

There’s going to come a day about a month and a half from now, in early-to mid-December, when you’ll be frustrated. Why? You’ll be watching TV, and the 95th ad featuring green-clad dwarves and a bumbling Santa will come on, with a cacophony of jingle bells accompanying them — a payday loan advertisement.

Maybe it’ll be the 70th time you’ve seen a billboard of a little girl building a snowman with her nuclear family and smiling golden retriever — a heartwarming message from a fire-breathing credit card conglomerate — or you’ll hear another trite ho-ho-ho being scornfully guffawed on the radio by some braggart impersonator.

It’s infuriating to watch the way our traditions get trod on by moneymakers, but don’t get mad. Instead, turn off the TV, call a friend and go for a walk. Breathe in our city’s relatively fresh air. Go for a drive in the mountains. Get a cup of hot cider, which is conveniently cheap and delicious. Seek ways to blow off steam.

Make these next two months worth it. Give simple gifts, seek good conversations and take it easy on the schedule, so you can enjoy a holiday season worth remembering. Be thankful for what you have and have a Happy Festivus.

[Reach columnist Jackson Rohrbaugh at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]