When do your holiday decorations go up?

[BernardandMissBianca]

We are staying home this year for Christmas instead of going to Disney.

I'm trying to decide if I should go all out like years past or just toss up the tree and hang the stockings. And leave it at that.

If I go all out, when should I start? We never get lights on the front of the house because DH is never home and by the time he is, it's to cold out to be out there.
I have garland and beads to hang in every doorway and a small tree for every room, living room gets the big tree. I have my mantle decor but now we have this big honkin' surround sound speaker that sits there. I could work around it on a smaller scale but I just don't know.....


UGH too much pressure!!! I want Disney to come decorate my house for me!!!!

 

[hopemax]

Growing up, it was after Thanksgiving dinner was cleaned up. DH wants to wait until Friday though. Outside went up, the first weekend of December.

I'm trying to decide how much to do. We are never home for Christmas (except last year with the new house), because we are either in Orlando or Seattle. Plus, now we have the kitty and he will be here 4 days by himself. He gets bored, so I am a little concerned about the state of the house when we get back. Glass in poster frames is his enemy, so I am not sure what he will do with Christmas trees with shiny objects.

 

[Lisa]

Going to see the Christmas Lights at Forest Park, MA always happens the first Sunday in December.

Christmas lights go up whenever it is warm. Dh is toying with put them up soon, but they will not be on until after Thanksgiving.

Christmas tree usually goes up two weeks before Christmas. That is when the inside of the house gets decorated. We always get a live tree so we can't put it up too early.

 

[wdwmickey]

We decorate the Friday after Thanksgiving. Trying to decide about putting up the big tree this year, since we have a golden retriever puppy in the house.

 

[ddavis860]

I took vacation time this year for a 4 day weekend Dec 11-14, since last year was a bust, because I didn't have any planned time to decorate.

BUT

I found out that I have a 4 day at Thanksgiving, so I've been talking to the kids about doing it then instead of waiting. Maybe just get started or something.

One thing that the kids STILL get out is the Advent calendar I got when DS22 was 1. It's a wooden tree with drawers, and every day you open the drawer and hang the little ornie from inside on the knob. Too stinkin cute, and it's not Christmas season without that thing hanging.

 

[joyah]

I : christmas

Lets see mom and I black friday shop every year so I usually take a nap after that and then put out the first few things either on fri or sat

this is the order i do it the same literally every year

manger and advent wreath
village/farm scene changing it's spot this year so trying to decide if I want to use the larger of the village houses?????
get out the dog count down calender by the 1st
tree ( mind you this is 19 feet (yes feet) of tree) always goes in the first sunday of the month
boys live trees go into their rooms at the same time
it takes a few days to decorate this thing so......
deer and other wildlife get their yearly dust bath and their hats
after I remove all the boxes I look around to see what's left usually I'm to tired to do much more.
no one sees our outside anymore so we don't bother


Buffy what do the kids want? do they help? do they expect? If it was my house I'd do it all but then this is my holiday.

I leave my gun shell lights and john deere tractor lights on the beams year around now cause i LOVE them (yep I'm a redneck)

OMG I forgot we have elf on a shelf too!!!!!! Ernie and Elmo need to arrive with all their naughtiness!

 

[bearbear]

We usually start the friday after thanksgiving after I get back from shopping of course. I also want to do the elf on the shelf this year. I have buy it first. I told DH I wanted to decorate outside this year. Last couple of years have been hectic and I want to take the time to decorate this year.

 

[DisneyMoM3418]

We usually do everythng the weekend after Thanksgiving but this year my husband is having surgery just before Thanksgiving so we actually got everything down from the attic yesterday. Our tree is already up and visible from our street. Our neighbors must think we are crazy.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Buffy what do the kids want? do they help? do they expect? If it was my house I'd do it all but then this is my holiday.

I'm sure they want all out but they usually help with one little thing then ditch me. Decorating is NOT DH's thing but he complains when I tear everything down. LOL

I don't know, part of me wants to do it up right but the other part of me is saying, just more work for you in set up and tear down.

And I need to get my elves going. I didn't do it last year and DH is gonna toss the box of elf stuff if I don't use it soon. Don't know why, it's only been next to his side of the bed all year.

 

[wdwmickey]

Okay, I have to know--what is "elf on a shelf"?

 

[New England Eeyore]

It varies, but this year it will be on Thanksgiving evening, because we can be sure we will all be in one place to do it.

I picked up my BFF for dinner tonight and saw that her neighbor (they share a house with a common wall so her front yard is his front yard too) had gone to town. It looked like Christmas had thrown up all over the yard and she said it had been up for over a week! On the up side, she used the opportunity to take her Christmas card pictures of the kids with all the decorations as the backdrop!

Plus, now we have the kitty and he will be here 4 days by himself. He gets bored, so I am a little concerned about the state of the house when we get back. Glass in poster frames is his enemy, so I am not sure what he will do with Christmas trees with shiny objects.

Having a Christmas tree has become such a challenge since we got our cat. The first year I learned the hard way we have to tie the tree to the wall. No matter how much I try to put the breakable ornaments high up or deep into the tree, he still manages to irreparably break about 4-5 ornaments a year (the sentimental ones don't even get taken out of the box anymore) and the non-breakable ones toward the bottom get surreptitiously picked off the tree one by one so by Christmas the bottom third of the tree is almost completely bare and I'm finding ornaments in strange places well into February. I still haven't figured out if he thinks the Christmas tree is his most wonderful play-toy or an invader in the house that needs to be attacked. Probably both.

 

[rlovew]

Okay, I have to know--what is "elf on a shelf"?

Take a peek at the thread abnout the elves on the Arts and Crafts board- they are little elves that get into mischief every day.

 

[rlovew]

We don't decorate outside- only inside. Since we aren't going far (to someone in the congregation's for Thanksgiving)- we will either start Thanksgiving Day or after we finish shopping on Friday. I will start my baking by that Saturday.

We just do a 3 foot tree on a table- our dogs would disturb anything larger and since our window doesn't go all the way down from the outside it just looks like the top of a 6 foot tree. I put out some things on shelves- I will have our advent wreath out by Nov. 28th.

Rebecca

 

[joyah]

Cheryl
Last year we had ernie and elmo (reindeer) they arrived the day we put up the trees so for this year it will be the 5th. Last year they comindeered my pick up truck ( holds cards) and crash landed in the laundry basket out side the boys rooms. took them for ever to see it I'd sent them down the hall at least 10 times finally I went down the hall and screamed at them like I was mad at them for playing with the truck. Elmo locked ernie in the fridge one night, climbed trees, swung from light fixtures with an empty champagne bottle on the floor. the best on was the night of E's birthday sleep over they had a snowball fight in the hallway 300 cotton balls later....... the boys had a blast that moning having their own fight with them I found cotton balls 4 weeks later...

I so need ideas for that night again this year they are now 4th graders...

 

[DisneyIsTerrific]

I put up the Christmas decorations in the house during the weekend after Thanskgiving. It usually takes me a couple of days to get it all out. DH could care less whether I decorate or not, but DS and I love it all! It's a lot of work to put it all out, but it just wouldn't feel like Christmas without it and it makes me happy so I do it!

I guess I've been lucky with my cats because they don't bother the tree much. One ignores it and other is just happy if I leave him a spot under the tree to sleep. If I don't, he'll just lay on the presents. Now, the cat I used to have loved the tree and would grab the garland and run (tree went too) so we had to stop putting garland on the tree. That's why I only have ornaments and lights now. We always had a live tree with her and she thought the water for the tree was hers to play with. We had to barracade it to keep her out of it.

 

[DisneyBarlans]

Christy-that sounds like fun!!

We go a little crazy here (or so DH says)-the kids all have their own trees in their rooms, I have an 8 foot "Disney tree" that is already up since we'll be at Disney the week of Thanksgiving, then there's the "real tree." Stockings, mantle, village houses, Jim Shore, etc. are already up, we'll probably do the kids trees this week before we leave. We'll get the live tree the Sunday or Monday after our trip and put that up, then DH will put up the lights on the outside of the house. Love Christmas!!!

 

[TinknBellesMom]

Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday of the year for my Dh and inlaws, so we never decorate or do anything Christmassy until the Sun after Thanksgiving. But I do need to start on my prep work (decluttering, etc.) for decorating. And I only have 6 Christmas cards made. I'm *way* behind on that. I might have to do photo cards this year.

 

[disneychic2]

Since you have small children, decorate up a storm! My kids are grown and they still remember how magical our home became at Christmas (and other holidays). Our decorations usually go up just after Thanksgiving. This year, we leave for Disney on Dec 1st, so not sure I'll have time to decorate after having all my kids & their families here from out of state. So, maybe just our tree and nativity this year? Not sure.

 

[wdwmickey]

Christy--that sounds like fun

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

We have been in Disney for a few Chrristmases also...either on the actual day or near it. So, I have not been going all out. This year we aren't going until Spring. So, I think I will decorate the outside the Monday after Thanksgiving since the kids are still off and can help. We usually justdo a live garland along the deck railing with some red bows. But, I think am going to do some lights this year in the the garland and I am going to get some "porch trees". Has anyone seen these? I have never had them, but they are artificial and come pre-lit in pots. I figured they could go on each side of the stairs coming up to the house. The biggest reason that I want to get them is that our inside tree is much smaller this year than other years and I will have left over ornaments to put on those trees. We actually already have our tree (and it's live). It is a tree the you can plant after the holiday. So, the hole is dug and the tree is sitting in it in the yard. It can only be inside for ten days, so we will decorate it the weekend before Christmas. The inside, I do the mantle, the table and this year I'm doing the large living room window with greens and stuff. We have the countdown calendar and the stockings. I need to get some new stocking holders for the mantle this year and a new tree skirt (since the tree will be in a bucket instead of a tree stand and we need a super big one now.) The first weekend in December we will start stringing popcorn and cranberries for the tree and the kids will make pinecone peanut butter and seed hangers for the birds outside. I think that's about it!! LOL It's a lot...but I love it!