How early is too early for putting up Christmas decorations

[midwestyankee]

I suppose you're right. Went to Disneyworld several years ago during the week of Thanksgiving. It was kind of wierd, since I live in NH, to see all the Christmas decorations while temps were in the middle 80s.

It's also strange to see palm trees decorated with lights. I've had the surreal experience of listening to holiday music while eating a late dinner in the outdoor patio of a restaurant along the beach in Ft. Lauderdale only three days before Christmas. Cruise ships out in the harbor were decorated for the holiday as well. Almost (almost but not quite) made me wish for a dose of Bing Crosby in White Christmas.

 

[Denae]

It's also strange to see palm trees decorated with lights. I've had the surreal experience of listening to holiday music while eating a late dinner in the outdoor patio of a restaurant along the beach in Ft. Lauderdale only three days before Christmas. Cruise ships out in the harbor were decorated for the holiday as well. Almost (almost but not quite) made me wish for a dose of Bing Crosby in White Christmas.

I'll never forget my first Christmas in Arizona. Driving down the street I saw an apartment complex had outlined the palm trees in lights. The problem was that they did not include the fronds. All I could do was laugh at the illuminated phallic symbols raised to the sky.

Perhaps you have to be there to picture it, but it's the funniest thing I've ever seen during the holidays.

 

[M's girl]

I love Christmas decorations and the special Christmas songs. I must admid I'm tempted to pull out the decorations and everything halfway december. But I don't. It needs to stay special and to me it will lose some of that when it's there for too long. I will buy my tree one or two weeks before Christmas, because otherwise all the nice ones will be gone. But it will stay in the garden until the last moment.

When my sister and I were young my mum used to put up all the Christmas decorations and the tree in the night before Christmas. We would go to sleep with nothing there and wake up the next morning, first Christmas Day, with the whole living room decorated, smelling nice, and a Christmas tree with some presents. Thát was truly magical! The tree and decorations would stay until after Sylvester but my mum would clear everything in the first week of January. Having the decorations up for a relatively short period of time makes it all the more special to me......

 

[captain snakebite]

What's your earliest acceptable date for indoor decorations?
And how about outdoor decorations, even if you don't turn them on?

Indoors? Christmas Eve.
Outdoors? Rains too much in Merry Olde Englande - they'd all fuse!!

 

[Guest]

 

[FoxxyGypsy]

I just put our tree up today! (13 Nov)

Normally I wat until at least the 1st of December but this year mum leaves to visit her family in Brazil on that day and isn't back until New Years Day so i kind of did it for her.

(Kind of.....I like the sparkly lights too ).

As for outdoor decorations this year we're not going to bother. We live in a duplex and it's the rear duplex so 2 other people on the block of land will get the benefit of it and a few visitors but that's it. Who wants to decorate with lights and later (when removing said lights) peel the paint off the front pillars of the house for 7 other people? Not me.

P.S. I know it's not the thread for it but my friend had her baby girl today (she's the first of our year group from school to have a baby - that i know of). Yaaaay.

 

[cymbline]

It is never too early. One of my co-workers put up 800 lights in his yard. Took him 3 weekends to do so. I wonder how much is to much decorating?


Oh by the way I don't put any decorations up inside or out.

 

[Ezzy]

When I was a kid we did not decorate inside the house until Xmas eve and the decorations only stayed up the 12 days of Xmas, external decorations went up the first weekend in Decembar and came down the first weekend in January.

My wife was brought up under a different set of decorating rules and we follow hers at our house. The tree is bought the day after Thanksgiving and is decorated as soon as we have it up in the living room in its base. External decorations go up the first weekend December and come down when they come down.

I used to work in selling Xmas goods, and it really put me off the commercial side of Xmas, The third weekend in January was when the trade fair was attended for new stock. June, July, and August would see the stock arriving and being sorted and checked into stock, Mid to Late August and into October we would wholesale the stock, Late October to Xmas week we would wholesale and retail the stock, the week after Xmas we would take an auditof the stock and calculate the next years orders, then reorganise what stock we had left into as small amount of space as we could, and clean all those areas the stock had been held, then off we went to the trade show to start the whole thing over again.

Boy did I get sick of the commercial side of Xmas?

 

[SlickTony]

Saw xmas trash in the stores before Labor Day this year. It's gotten so bad I refuse to participate, period.

Spend the longest night of the year with a friend, not a commercial.

I'm not going to refuse to participate, but I understand where you're coming from. Before Labor Day is just too damn soon! I don't get any Christmas stuff out until after Thanksgiving. In fact, it's often the Ides of December before we get our tree.

 

[Emerald Eyed]

I have my tree up already as of Friday evening.

My village is usually up by now because to me it is a winter village, not a Christmas village.


Ive been lazy, it still isnt up

 

[pleasteasme]

I suppose I should consider taking down my scarecrow and pumpkin adorning my porch?

I need to locate the Christmas decorations

 

[Undomiel]

Well some shops get in their Christmas stock in mid September which is just terrible! The lights have all been up before Halloween in town. I love Chistmas but refuse to decorate before December. It spoils everything starting too early. However the frosty weather puts me in a Christmas mood so I'm a mild Christmas mood the last week or so. I already bought one present.

 

[jerseyman1963]

If you're Italian...

If you're an Italian (or at least the Americanized strain), we solved this problem by never taking them down. On the one hand, they look tacky in July. On the other hand, all those trips to the attic or store room saved, no more wrestling with the knotted strings of tiny little light bulbs. Everyone thinks it's because we have no taste, but really, it's practicality at is finest. While the WASPs are pulling 100's of little light bulbs out of the string to find the one that's gone bad and ruined the whole string (and ready to pull their hair out too), we're enjoying a relaxing evening with some Sambuca and popcorn while watching "The Godfather."

 

[SlickTony]

If you're an Italian (or at least the Americanized strain), we solved this problem by never taking them down. On the one hand, they look tacky in July. On the other hand, all those trips to the attic or store room saved, no more wrestling with the knotted strings of tiny little light bulbs. Everyone thinks it's because we have no taste, but really, it's practicality at is finest. While the WASPs are pulling 100's of little light bulbs out of the string to find the one that's gone bad and ruined the whole string (and ready to pull their hair out too), we're enjoying a relaxing evening with some Sambuca and popcorn while watching "The Godfather."

When that happens I just throw out the whole string and get a new one. Damn cheapass cat-dick light bulbs--no doubt they're made that way on purpose. Life is too short for that kind of thing.

 

[jadefirefly]

My family and I have slightly differing views on this, but for the most part we're in agreement.

NO tree before Thanksgiving. We usually wait till the end of the first week of December, actually. We used to have a family tradition: after Turkey Day was all done, and the dishes cleaned up and the sun had gone down, we'd go out in the car (we lived in a piddling little town in Western MA at the time) and drive around the back roads, looking to see who already had their tree up, decorated, and fully lit. Including tree topper.

They found it funny, see.

My father gets irritated when stores start selling Christmas things before Halloween is over. Many shopping centres and plazas around here started playing Christmas music this week, and already have their decorations up. Who needs Thanksgiving?

Personally.... I get grumpy this time of year. Christmas is nice, in and of itself. I fucking hate the commercialism. I'd put off any decorations I bothered with as long as possible. I hate stores that play bad Christmas music, I hate store employees that wish everyone a Merry Christmas without a second thought for those who might not celebrate that particular holiday. (I do not; my family does, I celebrate with them out of long habit and family tradition.)

I could like this time of year just fine if every retail establishment in existance weren't trying to stuff it down my throat, fake snow and all. No Christmas decorations before Dec. 1st, in my book! I'd prefer the 15th, if I had my way...

(Wow. That was a long little rant. Sorry! >.<;; )

 

[WaitingTesting]

Our tree is going up tomorrow.

 

[SlickTony]

Ours, probably in 2 weeks. And that's another thing that pisses me off--fake snow. What's with all the damn snow? Was it snowing in Palestine 2005 years ago? It doesn't snow there now, and I doubt, long-term climatic changes notwithstanding, that it snowed then.

 

[Guest]