As soon as Halloween is over, I immediately get the Christmas twitch. Time to drag out the Christmas tree and holiday decorations, finalize my shopping list and eagerly anticipate spending quality time with family and friends. We’ve recently started a new family tradition of putting our tree up early. Really early. Typically, it’s up by Veteran’s Day weekend and most of our inside Christmas decorations have been put on display. Looking to justify putting up your Christmas tree, like, now? Read on:
I love Thanksgiving! Oh yeah, you read that right. Anytime I mention putting our tree up in early November I get the, “Oh, but what about Thanksgiving?” line. Truth is, I adore Thanksgiving — it’s actually my favorite holiday. I love the food, hanging out with family and how everyone feels so grateful and appreciative. My affinity for Thanksgiving is exactly the reason why I want our Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving rolls around. I want to be able to sit back and enjoy Thanksgiving without thinking about when we’re going to need to pull down the decorations from the attic and roll out Christmas. It’s already been done!
Christmastime is busy. Any mom can tell you that December is one crazy month. Between shopping for gifts, holiday school programs, planning for travel and the wrapping (God help us with all the wrapping), it seems like December comes and goes in a blur. What’s better than starting off the month of December with your tree and decorations already up and out of the way? Leaves me plenty of time to squeeze in a visit to Santa and address all those Christmas cards.
I like to do all the extras. I know that pesky Elf on the Shelf isn’t for everyone, but my kids love it, and I love doing it for them. There are also things such as homemade advent calendars, baking cookies, Christmas crafts and, of course, a few random acts of kindness. Although it’s already a busy month, I really try to make this time of year special for my kids. They’ll only be little for a short while, and I really do try to cherish these holiday memories.
By January 1st, I’m done with Christmas. That’s right, as much as I love putting everything up early, come the first of the year, I’m ready to pack it all away. I like the idea of starting the year fresh, with the Christmas decorations stowed and a lofty list of resolutions. If I’m going to pack it all up on January 1st, then I certainly want to go ahead and pull out all those decorations in early November to make it worth the effort and enjoyment.
So moms, when do you put up your Christmas tree and holiday decorations? Are you Team Before Thanksgiving or a wait-until-December kind of gal?
I like to wait until after Thanksgiving. It’s probably most often the day after for me. This year is our second year in this house and it came with a 12 foot tree. Last year it looked a little sad with very few decorations since our normal tree was much smaller. So this year I am shopping now for garland and ribbon for bows. As soon as I can get help getting the tree down I will so I can get started and see what the tree still needs. Also, it helps that this year Thanksgiving is at my sister’s house so only my family will know if it goes up early.