When do you decorate for Christmas?

[Aspasia]

Just wondering.

[SKL]

Our tree stays up all year. The other stuff comes out whenever we get a chance after Thanskgiving.

[Ellie]

Instead of going out on Black Friday, we stay home and decorate the house and put up the tree and everything. Then we can enjoy it for the whole month, regardless of what crazy things are going on. :)

[Parrothead]

Technically we start mid-November. But that is just the lights on the outside of the house during the mid-November warm snap. We generally have one day that is about 50. This year it was yesterday. So while the lights are up they are not plugged in.

 

The rest won't happen until after Thanksgiving sometime.

[lavender's green]

We decorate over Thanksgiving weekend while enjoying leftovers!

[Stratford]

Instead of going out on Black Friday, we stay home and decorate the house and put up the tree and everything. Then we can enjoy it for the whole month, regardless of what crazy things are going on. :)

 

Same here. :) (I'd do almost anything to avoid Black Friday shopping, though.)

[Night Elf]

I usually wait until December. This year I might put up the tree mid-month because last year I put it up at the beginning of the month and the tree just seemed to lose its magic by Christmas. We don't have any other decorations for the holidays besides our stockings.

[SBMama]

We usually decorate soon after Thanksgiving, but that will probably change this year. Our youngest was born on December 6th last year, so we will probably wait until after her birthday to decorate from now on.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We get our tree the weekend before Christmas, and then keep the tree up for the whole Christmas season.

[justLisa]

You forgot the option "day after Halloween"

 

I FORBID mine from doing it before, otherwise they would. We've got lights up already.

 

ETA wow how did I miss that one? :lol:

 

Ok I voted

[higginszoo]

A split between right after Thanksgiving or later, depending on the year. If we can, we wait until the third Sunday of Advent (often the third Sunday in December, a week or two before Christmas). Sometimes, it just makes sense to get things up before that. Like this year, we'll be gone in December (we were 2 years ago, too). So much of our decorating will happen Thanksgiving weekend or the weekend after here, so when we get back just in time for Christmas, the house will be ready.

[eternalknot]

I married into a Catholic family, so we've adopted their habit of not decorating until Christmas Eve. Some years we have cheated a bit and started the week of Christmas because that's when he had leave or when I was in town (I travel for work and am never off on Christmas) but never before that.

 

Christmas wasn't a holiday I grew up really celebrating; it was more of a lesser holiday, and definitely a consumer-driven thing as opposed to a faith-based event.

[Karen in CO]

Two weeks before Christmas. The decorations also come down on New's Years day. I love Christmas decorations, but they have a season which is short and keeps them special. Everything has a time.

[mellifera33]

We decorate the day after Thanksgiving, in between entertaining various family members who happen to be in the neighborhood and stop over for leftovers. :lol:

[MrsMommy]

I put up our three trees (all artificial) and the lights the weekend before Thanksgiving. For me, that's the hard, not so fun part, and I like to have it done so I can enjoy the lights while I'm cooking (and eating!) the big dinner, and so I can relax the weekend after.

 

We put out the nativity scenes, stockings, wreaths, and ornaments sometime after Thanksgiving...that we do at our leisure, because it's fun, and we like to take our time with it!

[justamouse]

Different things come out at different times. The Christ crib comes out for Advent. Advent candles, wreath, and the start of the Nativity. It's a time of fasting, and we normally fast all sugar.

 

On the 6th of Dec comes St. Nicholas Day, so all of my Jim Shore Santas (which I LOVE) come out.

 

On the 13th we celebrate St. Lucy's Day.

 

Then the trees go up (I have 6, then the natural one is the family Christmas tree), with lights, but no ornaments.

 

Christmas eve is when it gets fun. The trees get decorated, and we decorate the family tree, which we cut down. Then we have the feast of seven fishes, 1 hour of carols, Mass, and home to COOKIES. Then it's PAR-TAY till Epiphany.

Edited November 14, 2012 by justamouse

[justamouse]

I put up our three trees (all artificial) and the lights the weekend before Thanksgiving. For me, that's the hard, not so fun part, and I like to have it done so I can enjoy the lights while I'm cooking (and eating!) the big dinner, and so I can relax the weekend after.

 

We put out the nativity scenes, stockings, wreaths, and ornaments sometime after Thanksgiving...that we do at our leisure, because it's fun, and we like to take our time with it!

 

 

Mine are all in my attic, assembled. It cracks me up that if the light is on up there, and you are on the street? It looks like a forest in the attic.

[HollyDay]

We usually decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving. But, this year, it seems a bit early to put up the tree. I think we will do the outside lights because dh has off that weekend. But, wait and put up the tree sometime during the following week.

[jenangelcat]

We used to start decorating early in November but I found by the time the presents were unwrapped on Christmas day, I was over it all. It was just diluting the season. You can only keep the excitement going for so long before it gets boring.

 

Now we start the Christmas season on the 1st and extend it to the 31st. No music, no decor, no Christmas movies until then.

 

I made a 31 day calendar made of little cloth bags that are dated and tied with ribbon. The bags get a mix of treats and activities/events. We start decorating on the first of December. The real tree usually goes up a week later. We make sure to keep some fun stuff going after Christmas and end it with a party New Year's Eve, that way there's less of a let down after the presents are opened. On New Year's day, everything gets packed away.

[Chris in VA]

We get our tree sometime around the 10th or 15th of December. Now that ds is in college, we'd like to wait til he comes home at break, but...we don't, and he didn't really care.

We do have an Advent wreath (live greens) that we make and use all of Advent (we make it the Sat before TG, so this Sat), and a calendar that starts Dec 1, but the Big Box o' Christmas doesn't come out of the attic til we get our tree.

[elfgivas]

we decorate the weekend of Advent I, and take down the decorations the day after Epiphany. that usually corresponds to the weekend after thanksgiving, and the weekend after new years (or two).

 

this year, we will decorate the tree on St. Nicholas' Day, as dd the paramedic has to work christmas day, so is visiting early. it will be fun then, and sad later. they'll put their shoes out the way they always do, but this year, we'll be more generous as it is her christmas stocking, too.

 

hth,

ann

[Researcher]

After Thanksgiving and no earlier. I can't take looking at the stuff that long. :tongue_smilie:

[TrixieB]

December 1 for most decorations, but the tree goes up about 2 weeks before Christmas.

 

One of the neighbors puts out a nativity scene well in advance of Christmas. Some years it greets the trick or treaters. It's about the size of a plastic toy kitchen, and they don't put up house lights or other outside decorations... so it always puzzles me why they don't wait till a bit closer to the holiday before moving it from the garage to the lawn.

[JenC3]

We will put up tree/decorations on Dec 1 & 2nd.

Dh will put up outside lights after TGD.

[ErinE]

Just wondering.

 

There is no Christmas until after Thanksgiving.

[fraidycat]

I chose right after Thanksgiving, but it was between that and later. It depends on the year. Some years I'm in the mood for Christmas and other years I'm not. Last year, I think it was mid-December.