When do you decorate for Christmas

[Veiled Princess 1]

You forgot an option... some people don't have to decorate because they did it once like 20 years ago and they just leave it up all year and turn them on come christmas

Well maybe that's just the loons in the country I live around

[~Jess~ 0]

lol sorry i was trying to keep everyone involved thats why i added the infamous 'i dont celebrate christmas' option. whoooooooooooops on the 'i decorated many moons ago and have taken them down yet.' lol

[DeadPoolX 9]

I don't decorate for Christmas because I'm Jewish and celebrate Hanukkah instead.

It's sort of funny though...my family always wanted to decorate the house in lights, but they never could. It got to the point where my Dad built a Menorah (technically a Hanukkiah) that's taller than I am, and we decorated that a lot like we would a Christmas Tree.

This winter, I'll be with my fiancee and her family, so I'll get to experience a real Christmas. That will definitely be something different. It's too bad she couldn't have come down to the U.S. for Hanukkah, but she will be here for New Years and so forth. So that's good.

[JenT 0]

Interesting question... I notice the "I never take them down" option more closely related to outdoor decorations than indoor ones!

When I was a child, we put our tree up on the weekend before Christmas and left it up through most of January.

Now, we decorate whenever we have free time, starting with considering it on Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving is our 'traveling holiday' to see family... we never travel on Christmas. Family is welcome at our house anytime, but Christmas remains at home.

Usually, everything but the tree goes up first and then the tree is the final element to be added.

The longest I never left my decorations up was this year... I took them down on Good Friday I spent so much time traveling to see David, the house wasn't much of a priority. I would also imagine that the duration of decorations is related to whether one's tree was real or artificial. My tree was artificial but now that David is home, I'd like to go back to having a real tree again. Was too much work for 'just me'.

Jen

[sarah and hicham 3]

I always make my family get the tree Thanksgiving weekend because it smells so good in the house!

[rebeccajo 14]

Do you know what I've always wanted?

I want a house with a big 'lazy susan' type of turntable in one corner. On one side is the decorated Christmas tree. Once Christmas is over, spin it around and on the other side is a ficus tree.

Decorate the damn thing once and never have to deal with it again until you move.

Edited October 26, 2006 by rebeccajo

[sparkofcreation 0]

Start right after Thanksgiving. We alternate years of doing the tree first (weekend after Thanksgiving) or last (on Christmas Eve). This is a Christmas Eve year. Which is good, since we tossed the old artificial tree when we moved here, and we need a new one.

[PlatyPius 5]

I only use "real" trees if they are potted or burlapped for later planting. Killing a tree for such a purpose seems silly and wasteful to me. Especially when you consider that the Yule Tree thing is a pagan practice, and pagans tend to be tree-hugging nature freaks, like myself.

It has always amused me..... celebrating the rebirth of the Sun and the return of Light by killing a tree. (That's the reason for the lights and the shiny ornaments, you know.... celebrating the approaching return of longer daylight hours as the Winter Solstice passes.)

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Do not celebrate.

[Scott & Lai 12]

We put them up Christmas Eve, and leave them up at least until Epiphany. The four weeks prior are Advent, which is a time of preparation. This way, when everyone else is burned out by all the consumerism, we're just getting started celebrating the point of Christmas

[Cassie 8]

usually around the end of November/beginning of December.

[choji 0]

Never. Can't be bothered.

[BelwinMills 0]

The day after Thanksgiving. Who truly wants to shop on that day. You must be nutts. I am not decorating this year cause I am going to visit my husband during Christmas time

[Mags 112]

I've always put the tree up right after Thanksgiving. I love the look of a "tastefully" decorated tree in the living room. Gets me in the right frame of mind for Xmas. I find it relaxing. Of course, I'm also a tree fanatic, so it isn't surprising.

Looks like I might have to beat the Xmas spirit into Mags, though. One week? Are you nuts?

Two weeks before at a push (if I HAVE to. Larry, any sooner than that and I'll SCREAM!). And then, once Christmas is over the decorations are gone within two days....I just lose patience with them and want them gone.

I really don't like Christmas.....

But my Nan died on Christmas Day so bear with me....

[Lou Lou 1]

We don't really 'do' Christmas so decs are not an option. On Christmas day we always go to a shelter and help cook and dish out food to homeless people and low income families. It's a 12 hour day but lots of fun and very humbling. By the time that is over, we're too knackered to do anything else. OH has been doing this for the past 10 years, I've been doing it for 4, and we hope to continue as long as we live here. I try to avoid going shopping for the whole of Decmber. It's a pretty sick sight seeing all the consumer nonsense after what we see on that day.