How early do you start decorating for Christmas?

[jalapeno_pretzel]

My kids get very miffed at how Christmas encroaches on Thanksgiving, so we start the next day.

My kids also get irritated about holiday decorating too soon! (So then it becomes a bit of a joke that I'll start trying to put things out extra early, or place some things discreetly and see how long it takes them to notice). Usually it's the first weekend in December before things really start going up though.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanksgiving weekend, and it stays up until January 6.

And I hope everyone knows the significance of January 6th. I put up the tree about 12 days before Christmas, and take it down 12 days after. I admit, though, that outdoor lights usually go out a week or so before that.
When I was in college, I had a boyfriend who didn't know exactly what the 12 days of Christmas meant in religious history. So he started giving me little gifts to represent the day (like on the "5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me"-not exactly 5 golden rings, but 5 'golden' doughnuts. It was really cute, and at the time, romantic, even if not authentically religious, since to him the 12th day was Christmas day. I always think of him when I put the tree up.

 

[Buzz Rules]

First weekend of Advent.

 

[Buzz Rules]

And I hope everyone knows the significance of January 6th. I put up the tree about 12 days before Christmas, and take it down 12 days after. I admit, though, that outdoor lights usually go out a week or so before that.
When I was in college, I had a boyfriend who didn't know exactly what the 12 days of Christmas meant in religious history. So he started giving me little gifts to represent the day (like on the "5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me"-not exactly 5 golden rings, but 5 'golden' doughnuts. It was really cute, and at the time, romantic, even if not authentically religious, since to him the 12th day was Christmas day. I always think of him when I put the tree up.

I celebrate Epiphany so some Christmas decorations stay up.

 

[Kite16510]

The question is in the title. Perhaps December 1st? We tend to leave it until two weeks before, so the tree stays fresh for longer (we always get a natural tree).

Mine are already up. I live in the frozen NW corner of Pennsylvania and I don't wait for it to snow before I decorate. I'm usually the first one on my block. Maybe even the first one in my city. I don't do a lot, but the two decorations that I do have go up way before Thanksgiving. Last year we got 4 feet of snow on Thanksgiving. And then we got another foot of snow two days later and one more foot the next day. So November 1 is where it's at for me.

 

[hardcorestitch]

I bet everyone in Buffalo, Cincinnati, Norfolk and Louisville are also decorating as we speak… local Christmas radio is now on in those areas…

 

[Ronaldo17]

When the kids were still at home it was the first weekend in December, now it's a lot nearer Christmas, or not at all if we are going on vacation.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

As early as I can possibly get away with it. My mother *loathed* Christmas, and I never did find out why. Our tree went up Christmas Eve and came down New Year's Day when I was a kid. Now that I'm the one in charge of Christmas decor at my house, it goes up the third week of November and comes down the second week of January.

 

[QueenIsabella]

As early as I can possibly get away with it. My mother *loathed* Christmas, and I never did find out why. Our tree went up Christmas Eve and came down New Year's Day when I was a kid. Now that I'm the one in charge of Christmas decor at my house, it goes up the third week of November and comes down the second week of January.

My mom hated Christmas, too. OTOH, it was my dad's favorite holiday, but he didn't dare cross her. Some years, we didn't even have a tree. I suspect it was because we wee poor, and she hated that the commercialization of Christmas reminded her of that, plus it took away from the religious aspect--she was very religious generally. But I say--how you (pontifical "you", in this case, my mom) celebrate the holiday is on you. You can focus on the religious aspects and not get caught up in the spending frenzy. There are tons of non-money-focused things you can do, from holding a food drive to singing carols to putting on a nativity play, that require very little money.

Of course, when I was in college, my mom was diagnosed bi-polar, so that was likely a factor, too.

 

[disneyseniors]

Usually 2 or 3 weeks before. I know, I am pretty late at decorating. Might try for earlier this year.

 

[anniemae]

Weekend after Thanksgiving. I don't like decorating before because I feel like it's rude to Thanksgiving . I like to give attention to all the holidays individually.

 

[CGB]

Weekend after Thanksgiving for us, too. New Years is typically when I take it all down.

I really need to get my shopping done before Thanksgiving this year, too.

 

[LoveDaisy]

I went through all my holiday decorations yesterday to donate anything I wouldn’t use in time for someone else to use them for the holidays. I left these out on the bar because they made me happy.

 

[ClaraOswald]

We usually put our tree up a week or less before Thanksgiving. And then a day or two after Thanksgiving we'll decorate it and put out all our other Christmas decorations.

We might do it a bit early this year since Thanksgiving is late and we'll be out of town for a week in early December. That way I still feel like I get to enjoy it for a decent amount of days. (I wish we had a little tree for our hotel room but there just isn't space of that.)

We will take our tree down the first weekend in January.

 

[LilyWDW]

I am hoping to do it this upcoming weekend, but I have a ton of cleaning to do and start a new medication Thursday so we shall see.

I don't celebrate Christmas for the religious aspect. I celebrate Yule which many of the traditions have morphed into what we see today. So putting up the tree is symbolic in bringing in a branch of evergreen to remind ourselves that the land will come alive once again after the dark.

Plus, I just like pretty lights.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Mid-November and usually do the outdoor one day and the indoor another day. Just kinda stuck with it due to the HOA rules. We then generally keep them up until mid-January for outdoor also per the HOA rules unless weather is anticipated then we may take it down a tad early (more like only a few days). Indoor er that one depends year to year on how long I want them up, it's always up through January, most often put up in February but I've had like two years maybe where it was up until March. If I've got to stare at cold dreary, brown landscape for months I might as well make my inside feel more cozy and cheery.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

After Tot is done tonight, I will switch out Halloween for Fall. Thanksgiving night I will start putting fall stuff away. Friday I will start with Christmas stuff and the first weekend of December the tree will go up. Outside lights will start the weekend before Christmas, depending on the weather and not turned on until December 1st

My decor is Fall/Halloween combined. I think I have 2 things that would be more Thanksgiving related but the rest is either "fall, harvest, pumpkin, Halloween" related. Depending on the weather (meaning temperature) that gets put out in late September/early October.

Growing up though neither my dad nor my mom did anything really specific for Thanksgiving and that probably influences my decor for that. Like my mom may have had a few turkey-style decor but not really much at all and instead just get the more harvest or fall related. All the very specific Thanksgiving stuff like tablecloth, plates, napkins and any tabletop decor (which there wasn't much of) was only brought out for Thanksgiving day itself and that was really because she's the one who has hosted Thanksgiving for my mom's side of the family for many years.

 

[focusondisney]

We used to always start to decorate for Christmas the week after Thanksgiving, as our kids are older and 2 have moved out we find we are setting up later and later each year !!

We’re the exact opposite, we’re doing it earlier & earlier. When our kids were young, we decorated the first weekend inn December. Once they were grown & gone, we started taking WDW trip then, so we decorated Thanksgiving weekend. Now that we’re retired, we’ve started doing it in early November.

I bet everyone in Buffalo, Cincinnati, Norfolk and Louisville are also decorating as we speak… local Christmas radio is now on in those areas…

Nope, people in Buffalo decorate depending on the weather, not the radio. Any weekend that’s in the 60s & sunny will have tons of people out putting up their lights.

We just pulled all the totes (10 of them), boxes & bags of decorations from our storage area this morning. They’re moved to the main basement so we can start decorating this week. We do a lot & with getting older, what used to take 2 days now takes 3 or 4. Husband is planning on doing the outside lights tomorrow. The weather is going to be 55 & sunny. He’s almost 70 & had many years being out there when it was 25° with heavy snow, no point in doing that now if he doesn’t have to.

We don’t decorate for other holidays but go all out for Christmas. We love how the house looks & enjoy the lights during the dark evenings the next few months. We take everything down before my husband’s birthday in mid January.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nope, people in Buffalo decorate depending on the weather, not the radio. Any weekend that’s in the 60s & sunny will have tons of people out putting up their lights.

Yeah it's having to do outdoor stuff on the weekends due to daylight hours that can be limiting with the weather especially. January is what it is but that November time frame more options to maybe get lucky with nicer weather.

 

[easyas123]

Nope, people in Buffalo decorate depending on the weather, not the radio. Any weekend that’s in the 60s & sunny will have tons of people out putting up their lights.

Not in northern NY myself, but you make a great point - already regretting not putting some up myself yesterday where it was 60 & sunny here!
Putting up & actually turning on are two different things I suppose - so I'll amend my answer to I won't turn on outside lights/decor till after Thanksgiving.