Okay, Who Let 'Engagement Season' Become a Thing?

This weekend, a photo bubbled up on Reddit: Somewhere in America, a bunch of girls—decked out in their finest Christmas attire—gathered on a sofa to take a celebratory snapshot with three newly engaged friends. Except for a lone dissenter in the lower lefthand corner, who had apparently reached her breaking point with the hoopla.

“This Girl’s Reaction to ‘Engagement Season’ Is Pretty Much Perfect,” says HuffPo. No kidding, because the entire idea of “engagement season” is ridiculous.

Traditionally, the stretch from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s is, well, stuff-your-face season. (For instance, my breakfast this morning was three pieces of fudge.) But apparently, it’s also become the season for romance. Everything’s sparkly, everyone’s focused on family—what better time for a proposal?

You’ll find this phenomenon treated as fact in women’s magazines and newspapers alike. And judging by the wailing and gnashing of teeth on Twitter, it’s the source of much aggravation for young singles:

But of course, this isn’t driven merely by the Northern hemisphere’s inhabitants’ desperate desire for something, anything to distract us from winter. In fact, it would probably be more appropriate to rename this Ad-Driven-Jewelry-Buying Season. According to the AP, almost 40 percent of engagements occur during this particular stretch of the year—hence jewelers salivating over potential sales.

So for several months, it’s pretty much impossible to escape the endless subliminal hum of advertisements for engagement rings. (Right alongside the Lexus December to Remember Sales Event, of course, because expensive shit is the only way to demonstrate love.)

In fact, if you do a bit of Internet sleuthing on the term “engagement season,” you’ll find it quite often in places like press releases for “VermontWeddings.com” and Robbins Brothers, a “destination engagement ring store.” Not to mention tweets from Jos. A. Banks (better go ahead and order that tux!) and, of course, Brides magazine.

At any rate, maybe our friend in the red vest might consider a blind date with this fellow: