When to decorate for Christmas

[Texas Proud]

TP -

If this means that your DD (and perhaps her DH and the kiddos) are now the lead dogs for family holiday celebrations instead of you, congratulations! That's a well deserved reward for the years you spent in that role.

Spending various holidays and family occasions with DS and his family drinking his beer, watching football on his big screen, eating his food and enjoying his decorations without any preparation or clean-up on our part is the way life was meant to be!

No such luck.... DD is 13.... if it were HER house I would not care one way or the other if when she decorated...

She wants to decorate her room right now, but I think it will spill out into the rest of the house....


The funny thing is she seemed to be listening to me when I talked about my childhood.... my dad left the lights up on the house for years.... we just turned them one when the time came and did nothing the rest of the year.... so she is saying 'we decorated before Thanksgiving'.....

 

[Bestwifeever]

If one goes by the Merchandisers, we decorate starting in October and take them down immediately on the Dec 26th.

For a more historical and accurate take on things, remember that the four weeks before Christmas are actually the Advent season. The Christmas season starts on 12/25 and runs through 1/6. You know - The 12 Days of Christmas.

So... You're both wrong. m

But, who am I to judge?. If you have your loving family together for the Holidays, enjoy the blessing. It doesn't get much better than that.

Yes. In my family my father would bring home the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve day and we would decorate it and hang stockings that evening. Presents on Christmas morning followed by Mass. Christmas wasn't over until the Epiphany.

We still have a fresh tree now but you can't really buy them after mid-December so we reluctantly and without a lot of Christmas spirit put it up ten days before. Down on New Year's day. Bah humbug.

Outdoor decorations are a fresh wreath the middle of December and every few years some garlands festooning the porch railing, depending on the Boy Scouts stopping by to sell them. No scouts this year so far so no garlands for us

 

[Ronstar]

I get the tree out of storage and DW takes it from there sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, depending how busy we are. I do outside decorations, now only wreaths on my workshop, mid December. All gets put away around January 1.

 

[CRLLS]

We usually decorate the outside, the weekend after Thanksgiving. This year it may be earlier. The weather has been just too good not to take advantage of. So maybe later this week, but I will not power them up until Black Friday. This is the one time of year that we do not "use x% less electricity than our most efficient neighbors" They get depowered after Jan 1st and come down the first good weekend after.

 

[Danmar]

Never.

Agree. I hate decorating for Christmas and can't wait to take the stuff down. DW and DD make me do it. Bah humbug!

 

[rodi]

I grew up with the tradition of the tree goes up and gets decorated on Christmas Eve... My mom brought that tradition to the family - and my dad jumped all over it because we often got a FREE or super cheap tree since the lots were shutting down.

Now, as bestwifeever said, the tree lots start disappearing prior to Christmas... so we get it between 1-2 weeks before Christmas.

Lights go up after Thanksgiving.

Everything down either NY day or the day after.

 

[rodi]

Slight hijack to the thread...

How many trees? I have a friend who has 5 trees! How does Santa know which tree to leave the presents under?

We don't want to confuse Santa in our house - so only 1 tree for us. (And sometimes it's a trimmed up Rosemary bush.)

 

[Aerides]

My personal preference is usually Up on black friday, down on NYD or at least by 12th night (Jan 6). Bad luck after that my Mum would say.

I have a much bigger beef with the people who leave lights and outside stuff up well into February.

OP assuming your DD is an adult in her own home? The answer is it's her own business! If she's working, and has kids, then pre-thanksgiving might be the only chance she has to get it all done.

I run a teeny small online business which tends to explode with holiday shopping, so I have no downtime from about Thanksgiving till 12/20. So my outdoor lights are going up this week, and the tree (nice fake prelit) will go up before thanksgiving. Lights won't be turned on for either though, until after turkey.

 

[outdoorgirl02]

We usually decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving. I love the holidays including Thanksgiving and don't want to skip over that by rushing the Christmas decor. Although, I have been listening to some Christmas music already

 

[NW-Bound]

OP assuming your DD is an adult in her own home? The answer is it's her own business! If she's working, and has kids, then pre-thanksgiving might be the only chance she has to get it all done...

OP's DD is 13. I would let her decorate as early as she likes. In a few years, her attention will be diverted elsewhere, and you will miss this time.

Slight hijack to the thread...

How many trees? I have a friend who has 5 trees! How does Santa know which tree to leave the presents under?

We don't want to confuse Santa in our house - so only 1 tree for us. (And sometimes it's a trimmed up Rosemary bush.)

If the kids are nice, a generous Santa will leave a present under each tree. A home with 5 trees would not mind more presents.

My home has not had a tree for many years now. No present for anybody. We just have lots of food and booze, and then we party.