Spin off of taking Christmas decortions down- When do you put them up

[Evil Duckie]

One of my neighbors last night was telling several of us that they were looking forward to Nov. 1 when they could put all their Christmas decorations. She said that she wished that she could decorate both inside and outside for Christmas around Sept. 1 but that her family was totally against it stating that she had to wait until at least Nov. 1.

My family tends to decorate around Thanksgiving or early Dec.

[Animala]

The weekend after Thanksgiving.

[Giggity]

Weekend after Thanksgiving - unless I put 'em up in July, that's my first free weekend.

[Lovemykids]

The weekend after Thanksgiving.

Me, too.  And they come down around Epiphany.

There's a house near me on which the holiday decorations have remained in place for the past three years.  Seriously, I remember seeing them go up the first year and they have never come down since.  I thought perhaps the people who lived there had moved and not sold the house, or something like that, but I see evidence of life there whenever I drive by -- the lawn is mowed, there are pots of herbs on the picnic table out back, etc.  But the grapevine reindeer, the window wreaths, and some fake pine garland on the front porch have remained, month after month, for the past three years. 

[Arrynne]

Depends on whether I'm getting a real tree or not.  If I get a real tree, it goes up 1-2 weeks before Christmas, and goes down right after New Year's.  If it's a fake tree year, I'm happy to put it up anytime after Thanksgiving dinner.

[QueenofAllThings]

Outdoor greenery and/or lights - first week of December (weather dependent).
Indoors, generally between the first and second week of December. Generally, it's a process, and I do it during the day when the children are in school. The tree itself usually goes up the 2nd/3rd weekend in December (again, depending on the date and schedules) and we have a little family decorating time, which involves lots of champagne and silly Santa hats.

[MrsO]

Everything goes up first of December in our house.

[Shoo]

The weekend after Thanksgiving.

Same here.  It's been the weekend after Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember.  But this is for outside decorations only.  We don't do the inside of the house until after December 8th, which is my husband's birthday (don't want Christmas to overshadow his birthday).

[Giggity]

Shoo, that's so sweet of you!

My birthday is December 27. Mama Isabella used to bust all sorts of hiney to take Christmas stuff down on the 26th so my birthday wouldn't be Christmas Afterthought.

Now that I'm grown, I leave my lights up until January. I love Christmas lights.

[camlan]

I start on December 1st. I do one thing a day for Christmas until Christmas Eve, which is when the tree goes up. I don't do a ton of decorating; a lot of it is baking Christmas cookies or writing Christmas cards. It's just a way of letting Christmas come in slowly, instead of in a huge rush. And it solves the problem of being thoroughly tired of Christmas on Christmas night. So Dec. 1, I put up the Advent calendar. Dec. 2, the Christmas mugs come out. Dec. 3, I bake snowflake cookies, and so on. Everything comes down after 12th Night.

I got the general idea from Madeline L'Engle's book, The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas .

[rhirhi]

The weekend after Thanksgiving.

Same here.  It's been the weekend after Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember.  But this is for outside decorations only.  We don't do the inside of the house until after December 8th, which is my husband's birthday (don't want Christmas to overshadow his birthday).

My older DD's birthday is the 12th of December, and I think I'm going to adopt your idea, too. I really would *love* to be 'that' house on the street (you know, everyone waits to see their lights) but I don't want DD1's birthday to fall by the wayside, it kind of already does because the second weekend of Dec is DH's family's Christmas.

[CherryRipe]

Usually about a week before Christmas, give or take a few days.

[CherryRipe]

The weekend after Thanksgiving.

Me, too.  And they come down around Epiphany.

There's a house near me on which the holiday decorations have remained in place for the past three years.  Seriously, I remember seeing them go up the first year and they have never come down since.  I thought perhaps the people who lived there had moved and not sold the house, or something like that, but I see evidence of life there whenever I drive by -- the lawn is mowed, there are pots of herbs on the picnic table out back, etc.  But the grapevine reindeer, the window wreaths, and some fake pine garland on the front porch have remained, month after month, for the past three years. 

That reminds me of this girl I knew in grade 6 and 7--her family left their jack-o-lantern on the porch from just before Halloween, straight through March or something insane like that.  The problem?  This was back before everyone was buying electric Styrooam pumpkins--theirs was a REAL one.

[klm75]

My older DD's birthday is the 12th of December, and I think I'm going to adopt your idea, too. I really would *love* to be 'that' house on the street (you know, everyone waits to see their lights) but I don't want DD1's birthday to fall by the wayside, it kind of already does because the second weekend of Dec is DH's family's Christmas.

My DD shares a birthday with yours   We have her birthday party the first Saturday in December (to avoid too much overlap with Christmas parties) and decorate the house on the Sunday.

Outdoor decorations usually go up the weekend after November 11.

[KenveeB]

Growing up, we always decorated the day after Thanksgiving.  But nowadays I'm still at my parents' house then, so I have to wait to do my house on the Saturday after Thanksgiving instead.  I love it -- I pop in my Muppet Christmas Carol and sing along while I decorate.

I actually decorate three times -- my grandmother's house on Thanksgiving afternoon (she can't do it on her own anymore), my parents' house on Friday, and then my place on Saturday.