Tradition Or When You Can?
Well, it’s officially after Thanksgiving and I can morally feel okay about decorating for Christmas. I know some of you already have your Christmas stuff up and Thanksgiving and I can forgive you for that, but I’ve never even thought about bringing out the old Christmas tree before December 1st. Not because I don’t like to, but just because it feels weird.
So, today Kristin and I started the “Christmas decorations” talk and it looks like we might do some prep work today and ‘officially’ decorate tomorrow. Tree, house lights, stockings, the whole deal…. complete with hot chocolate and the movie ‘Elf’.
So what’s your decoration strategy? Do you have a set day that you do things? Any yearly traditions? Or is it just a ‘whenever you can talk dad into breaking out the ladder to go out in the cold and put up some lights’ kind of thing?
We don’t have a specific day that we do things but it’s always, always after Thanksgiving.
We usually put ours up the day after Thanksgiving, or very soon thereafter. We put up the tree, put up the stockings, and reminisce about each ornament as we place it on the tree…all while watching Miracle on 34th Street, It’s A Wonderful Life and/or White Christmas. I have already watched Elf 5 times!!
I could not help it…it snowed here on November 1st! I love it-it is becoming my classic!!
I am really missing being with my family this weekend as they put up the tree and I am in China. I did however buy a small tree to put up, and still need to get decorations. It won’t be the same putting it up by myself-but I will still love having one here! I LOVE snowmen, so I have some of those with me (the rest are in a storage unit in Texas!), and they make me happy!
Enjoy your time!! I am going to play all of my movies and music like crazy for the next month, not feel bad about it & enjoy every moment!
Never, never, never decorate before Thanksgiving! There should be some kind of law against it. Give Thanksgiving its due – Thanksgiving encroachment is a 15 yard penalty! We put our Christmas tree up and decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving. This year we did the house lights on Friday and are putting up the Christmas tree now. We would have done the tree yesterday, but my new job had me working yesterday.
Sometime within a week or so after Thanksgiving is when ours go up. This year is going to be a bit of a simple design outside (since I have been accused by the neighbors of being Clark W. Griswold before) … HA HA
If I were to bet, I would say that everything went up next weekend simply because we are just worn out and enjoying a few quiet days of nothing on the calendar this weekend. We might even take in ANOTHER movie today!!
The day after Thankgiving we start to decorate, BUT the stuff is still in boxes in the middle of the living room since we didn’t “celebrate” Thanksgiving until the day after because one of us had to work on the actual holiday. SO maybe we will do the rest TODAY, but no tree yet. Not sure when or if we are gonna have one. Typically the day after Thanksgiving is the “tradition” for us….
Since my kids are grown and I’m home alone I don’t do much decorating anymore. Thankfully my daughter & son-in-law live nearby and I can enjoy their home. My daughter has her house and yard decorated already. As I get older I tend to reflect more on what God’s love and grace brings to my life. He has NEVER failed me.I pray that I can live better and be an example to others. Of course I always pray for families like yours that are just starting out. You are so Blessed to have 3 beautiful, heathly sons and Kristin who completes you. Praying you and yours have a joyful holiday season.
Decorating for me is a big deal. I have a large Christmas village I put up, the tree of course, and I change out much of my normal household decor for snowmen, over the years I have collected quite a few of them =) I started collecting them well before I got married 12 years ago, and the collection grows every year. Now that I have a house I am loving planning out the decorating this year. My tree and Christmas village have new homes, and all my snowmen have more space.
And they all come out of storage…..the day after thanksgiving now!!! After years having to work retail on black Friday I now enjoy the new tradition of decorating on that day. It will likely take me a full week to get the job done =)
I’d prefer to put my tree around the 15th of Dec. I have a Christmas Eve baby & I like to celebrate her birthday before the house is decorated for Christmas. Living on an island makes it difficult since only so many trees come in and once they’re gone they’re gone & it makes no difference if they sit on the lot & brown or in my living room & brown.
I have my own personal decorations & tree that I set up, usually on Thanksgiving Day, although this year, I only got the tree up and one Christmas candle out. Hoping to finish tonight. But our whole family has what we call “Christmas Spirit Day’ usually on the first weekend in December. It’s where we get together and the women and kids bake Christmas cookies and all sorts of goodies all day while the men set up the tree. Then that night we have a little decorating party where we decorate the tree and set out all the stockings, garland, nativity, etc. As far as decorating the outside of the house, we used to have the men do it on Thanksgiving Day, but they’ve gotten lazy the last couple years! We used to do it up Griswold style even! But my poor little sister got stuck doing it last year. And this year….we’ll be lucky if that house even gets decorated :p
Usually the Friday after Thanksgiving. Hubby gets tree put together (I’m allergic to real trees) then goes outside to do the outdoor lights while I “fluff” the tree.
This year I don’t have a vaulted ceiling or a 19 x 23 living room. And very little real estate for outdoor lights. No family around, but we are still going to put up both trees. I have a huge 8ft tree & Ted has a small white tree with blue fiber-optic lighting. That is the Pittsburgh tree. All the Hallmark ornaments for hockey, football, baseball that are Pittsburghy go on it. We have several other sports ornaments that go on also. Also new this year is a tree skirt I spent many hours cross-stitching. It’s a huge nativity scene. A friend “finished” it for me with blue velvet backing & gold ribbon on the edge.
We don’t decorate until after Thanksgiving. I USED to have a rule about not listening to Christmas music until after T-day too, but I’ve given up on that one. Especially with kids, I enjoy extending the holiday a bit.
Tradition. Nothing Christmas before thanksgiving. Then out come the decorations, music and we usually go and get our tree on Saturday.
I do our tree and decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving.
There is no tradition, or plan it seems, ever in our family. I always think I’ll try to get the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but it’s never happened. We’re kind of ‘Grinchy’ when it comes to decorating the outside of our house…we don’t. The inside stuff is all Winnie-the-Pooh. We started the collection when the kids were little, and now it’s all we have in the way of Christmas stuff. This year the kids have asked for a new theme. Ha! As if we can just get rid of 16 years of Christmas stuff and start over! Not likely.
My plan (and I use that word loosely) is to have the house decorated by the 15th.