Every year, businesses commercialize Christmas earlier than they had the year before, which means that there are Christmas decorations for sale before Halloween. However, that does not necessarily mean that is when the “Christmas Season” begins.

One possible thing that could have set off the beginning of the real Christmas season for people occurred on November 10, with the release of Starbucks’ annual red cups and holiday drinks.

The release of the red cups has been a part of Starbucks’ brand since 1997, with the designs changing every year. Of course, this also has allowed several years of controversy to pop up because the designs on the cups were not ‘festive’ enough for some customers.

Whether you are getting up in arms about the designs on the cups this year, or just enjoying the holiday flavors of your drink choice, there is one bit of information about Starbucks’ cups this year that is worth knowing: the designs were created by customers themselves.

Starbucks released a statement on November 9, stating that this year is the first time the red cups feature 13 distinctive designs created by the customers, an idea taken from the fact that, for years, customers have used the standard white cups as a canvas for their artwork.

It was the variety of red cups with white designs that gave Starbucks’ marketing team the idea to create a collection, which is how they came up with the lucky number of 13 designs.

These 13 designs, which were selected from a mass of submissions from all around the world, come from six countries to represent the collective spirit of the holiday season all around the world.

So, the next time you pick up a red cup at Starbucks this year, think about what it truly means and what the spirit of Christmas really is, because the world seems to be full of it, and you can share in that, one cup at a time.