When Do You Start Decorating for Christmas?

[ChefBeckyD]

So, when do you all start decorating for Christmas?

This weekend, we are moving furniture - so the Tree can have a prime spot.......and then I will set out my Willow Tree Nativity Set ~ with the hand made Creche my DH made for me - it's beautiful, and my favorite "decoration" to set out. It will have a place of honor, to help us all remember why we celebrate Christmas.
We will also hang lights outside, and do some other decorating inside - and then next weekend, we will go to cut down our Christmas Tree. It's a Family tradition - we go to Rockford, have lunch at Arnie's, and then go to Hart Tree Farm for a hayride and tree-cutting. I'm so looking forward to the beginning of the Christmas Season!

 

[quiverfull7]

My DH likes to wait until the 2nd weekend in December to get the tree but the kids are getting better about trying to move that date up a bit. We will get our candles in the windows soon and do lights and garland outside but we'll see how far I get ... I have 3 shows and several catty's to close next week so it may be Dec. before much of that happens.

 

[chefpenny99]

We will go and get our tree (we cut one fresh at a tree farm in Valencia) this Friday. It's a tradition in our house that the decorations start coming out the day after Thanksgiving.

 

[chefann]

I don't decorate for Christmas. There's no good place in my living room for a tree, and DH can't stand lights up (not to mention that we shouldn't be spending the extra on electricity when we don't need to).

 

[mommylove_07]

I usually next week. (the week after Thanksgiving.) I am always on vacation that week. But this year it will probably be the week before Christmas because I have a 8 month old and he will love the tree and pulling on it.

I will probably start putting all the small things out next week but wait on the tree.

 

[raebates]

We'll decorate this Saturday. I'm using the term "we" loosely. I do the vast majority of the decorating. However, setting up the tree and stringing the lights is a joint effort between The Furry Guy and me.Hey, Ann, get some of those new LED lights. They last a looooooooonnnnnng time and use a small fraction of the energy. We got some last year and love them.

 

[chefann]

Hey, Ann, get some of those new LED lights. They last a looooooooonnnnnng time and use a small fraction of the energy. We got some last year and love them.

For as much as I LOOOOOVE (please read that with sarcasm) the hassle of hanging and taking down lights, I just can't justify buying new ones when we have a huge box of them in the basement. And with no outlets on the exterior of the house, it's a royal pain to plug them in. But thanks for the suggestion! (I'm not trying to be difficult, really I'm not.)

 

[quiverfull7]

Really... Ann... hanging those lights might just be romantic ... and lead to something rather eeewwwwwwish!!!!! Sorry... I couldn't resist! I'm ducking... don't throw anything!

 

[janetupnorth]

I don't decorate for Christmas. There's no good place in my living room for a tree, and DH can't stand lights up (not to mention that we shouldn't be spending the extra on electricity when we don't need to).

Leave it to an EE to want to conserve electricity.

 

[chefann]

pbbhhhtttt!

 

[raebates]

Yeah, you're not trying to be difficult. In all honesty, we don't do outside lights. I was talking about stringing lights on the tree.

 

[chefann]

Leave it to an EE to want to conserve electricity.

No, that's me. DH just can't stand Christmas decorations of any kind.

 

[janetupnorth]

Really... Ann... hanging those lights might just be romantic ... and lead to something rather eeewwwwwwish!!!!! Sorry... I couldn't resist! I'm ducking... don't throw anything!

ROFLOL!!!!!!!!

 

[chefann]

Yeah, you're not trying to be difficult. In all honesty, we don't do outside lights. I was talking about stringing lights on the tree.

Gotcha.

Problem there is that the parrots hate the tree. It's a scary invader in their space.

Luckily, we've avoided hosting Christmas for several years, so nobody notices that we don't decorate.

 

[quiverfull7]

I really should add that I do the lights outside on the garland etc. However, My DH is in charge of stringing the lights onthe tree because he's SO picky about how they look. A few years ago I bought an artificial tree (read FAKE.. .but tree like) that already had the lights on it and I just thought I was so smart. It was great the first year and maybe the second.. .then the stupid thing had strands going off all the time and stinging lights on a unlit "prelit" tree didn't impress Bill AT ALL! So the last 2 years we've had LIVE trees again... (read... Diane HATES vacuuming needles for 5 months)
We all wish to clear the room while he strings the lights... it's not exactly a time of "shining" moments even tho there are lights on! They when the kids hang their ornaments.. .he gets upset if they mess up the lights... SO ... I just can't WAIT to get a tree!!!!!!!! It will all be fine ... I'm sure it will... think positive thoughts....

 

[janetupnorth]

1. Day after Thanksgiving at the earliest - hate Christmas in July! Although I wouldn't mind it overshadowing Halloween sometimes...2. We don't do "real" trees...something about having 2 firefighters in the house, a woodburning stove and knowing how fast they go up.3. DH also does the tree lights...his grandpa owned a store in Racine for many, many years and handmade wreaths and bows and was VERY anal about decorations so DH has to spend a couple hours hand-stringing them up and down every branch just perfectly....4. Outdoor - sometimes - more for the little kids than us...

 

[raebates]

A few years ago, a friend and I had the following conversation. Keep in mind that she had become very snooty about tree selection, and I felt the need to bring her down a peg or two.


B: Do you have a real tree? I've got a real tree.

R: Yes, we have a real tree. We tried an imaginary one for a while, but we had trouble with the ornaments. They kept falling off.

B: Okay, funny. I've got a live tree.

R: I think those are great. Where are you going to plant it after Christmas?

B: Oh, well, it's not one of those. It's one from a tree lot.

R: Ah, it's a tree carcass. You'll have a tree carcass in your living room for the next few weeks. It's a little macabre, but, hey, it's your home.



For the record, I really like cut trees. However, like Diane, I hate vacuuming up needles. Also, I like to decorate early, and that's chancy with a cut tree.

 

[amy07]

I really wanted to put the tree up this past Sunday, but I lost out on that. So, then I was thinking this Friday. BUT DH now has to work on Thanksgiving, so we are doing on Thanksgiving on Friday and having the inlaws (yippee) over. So we'll see when it happens.........

 

[raebates]

Here's my Thanksgiving (extended) weekend schedule:Thursday: Bates Family Thanksgiving in New Haven, IN. It's about 1 1/2 hours northeast of us. We're taking gooseberry pie and mini kangaroo burgers.Friday: Shopping! The Furry Guy will stay home and get out the boxes of decorations.Saturday: Decorating.Sunday: Dissinger Family (The Furry Guy's mom's) holiday gathering in Fort Wayne, IN. Again, it's about 1 1/2 hours northeast of our home. (New Haven is a suburb of Fort Wayne.) We're taking roasted green beans and mini fruitcake bites.That reminds me . . . I think I promised someone that I'd post the recipe for mini fruitcake bites. Hard to tell, though. My rememberer is broken. If so, let me know. I have it on my computer at home.

 

[pamperedpals]

We start decorating the day after Thanksgiving. The kids are really excited, probably not as much as I am! I just love this time of year and decorating the house. I also do my semi-yearly dusting.

I have to work on Friday, so we will go after I get off of work and cut our tree down and decorate when we get home. I love the smell of the tree and I guess I am weird, because I love to vacuum the needles up. The boys take turns watering the tree, daily, most of the time.

Now that our youngest is 2 I will be able to set up more of my decorations. DH will more in likely be outside on Saturday doing the decorations down the fence line and putting up the blow up decorations.

DH just put in new hardwood floors in the dining room, so I can't wait to see how everything looks, when the house is decorated.

Have fun everyone!

 

[Gina M]

We usually have our tree up the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving - it's artificial (I've never had a real tree in my whole life) - I figure it's up and lasts a long time The kids help with the decorating (putting up the ornaments is fur for them - I really only concentrate on our living room since we live in a small house and it's a pain to put everything away before you decorate anything. I decorate the top of my piano, and a shelf above it and mostly limit myself to the tree. It doesn't take too long and we don't do the outside of the house - old house - no exterior outlets - so we have a wreath up on the door (already there) and that's it for the front. I figure I can't see the front of my house from inside so I'll just enjoy the neighbors outside decorations Have fun everyone with your decorating!

 

[Kitchen2u]

Disneywonderland in my house!The day after Thanksgiving! It basically takes me all weekend and sometimes longer. I rent a storage unit for all my Disney Holiday decor...probably over $20,000 worth ~ yep, you read that right...no extra zeros there. I have over 25 musical/moveable Disney characters ~ Disney ornament only decorated tree ~ plus a ton of other Disney stuff throughout the house.

 

[Cassie1037]

I used to start right after Thanksgiving, I am very festive as Christmas is my favorite holiday and time of year. Now, DH has a 6 year-old and her birthday is two weeks before Christmas. So, we wait until her birthday festivities are completed before we break out the Christmas decor... just so her birthday is still important! :balloon: It's always worth the wait.

I love to cut my own tree-as my family supports the timber industry, and it just adds to the many smells of Christmas-to me.

Here we go again:

HO HO HO!!! :sing:

 

[caynreth]

I'm not into decorating. For any reason. Ever. If it doesn't have a practical use, I can probably do without it. Makes my husband crazy. He wants to decorate for just about any holiday he can think of. But he doesn't want to take the time to do it himself...sooooo. We put up a tree because my dad says we are ruining our children's lives if we don't....it goes up a week before Yule (which is Dec 22nd this year) and comes down on the 28th because we have company coming round on the 29th and have to have room for people more than shrubbery.

 

[heat123]

It used to be the day after T-day now it's Usually the week after (dh doesn't want the tree to die) since we have it up until the new year!

 

[JAE]

I brought some decorations up from the basement last night. The mantel has a few decorations around it and one section of the kitchen cupboards has decor on top. I don't like to do everything at the same time, which is usually the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving.
We have not purchased a tree since 1992 when we were first married because our realtor always gives us a free one. We have not received the coupon in the mail, yet, this season. Making me wonder if we will be buying our first tree. (We did buy our first 3 foot artificial tree when we were first married and kept it for five years until we bought a house in 1997.)
I was going to put lights outside today because it wasn't as cold as it has been and will be soon. It started raining before I got home from shopping. I may skip the outdoor lights if it is too cold from here on out.
I bought some ornaments for the trifle bowl today. I plan to use it to decorate with at my next two shows. It's on the shelf next to the mantel.

 

[lacychef]

We'll start this weekend, maybe tomorrow evening if I'm not too tired from hosting turkey day. And I use the term 'we' loosely too--it's mostly me! Since we bought our bigger house, I need to get some more decorations! And I'm excited because our old house had no outdoor outlets, but this one does:thumbup: So I'll have dh out on the ladder in no time, lol! We have a pre-lit artificial tree---love it cause I always hated putting the lights on the tree.

Hey, for anyone that loves it as much as me....National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is on this Sunday!! Love that movie!

 

[BethCooks4U]

I start no later than the second week in November but then our main Christmas celebration is Thanksgiving. My kids come down from WI (they're here now - sleeping cause we were up very late)!

I will have a very relaxing December. Gifts are bought except DH, son in college who will be here in December and inlaws in Texas and I'm partly done with all of them. Decorating and baking done.

...well it won't be RELAXING! I have to paint at least 4 rooms because we are getting carpeting put in on Dec. 11 and 17.