Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, I am just super surprised at how many of my friends have already had their Christmas tree up for 2 weeks! Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet! I understand that everyone has their own traditions... but I like celebrating and actually enjoying Thanksgiving before even thinking about Christmas stuff!! Thanksgiving gets blown off... but it's my favorite. All the family, friends, and food of the holidays, but without worrying about presents (it's about giving THANKS not giving PRESENTS, I love it!).... Anyway, all that being said, I still feel sooo slow in getting the Christmas stuff out. And then I feel like the Grinch, because after looking/tripping over the holiday stuff for over a month, I usually fly through the house and take it all down about 2-3 days after Christmas because I just can't stand it anymore! I'm really not a big BAH-HUMUG!... Maybe it's because my kids are so young and I don't ever get any help doing the decorating/putting away... I only do it for my kids, bc really, it's just a chore. Back to my question, when do you put up and take down your decorations?
They usually go up the weeked after Thanksgiving weekend (or if we are feeling abmbitious Thanksgiving weekend). They all come down in January on the weeked following the epiphany (outside decorations often stay up until spring :)).
We had some unusually warm weather here so the outside decorations went up but have not been turned on and I have seen in my neighborhood that we aren't the only ones who said "ahhh....its 60 out lets put the lights up before its below freezing" As for our inside decorations my oldest's bday is the 14th so we don't put the inside ones up until after we celebrate his birthday because I don't want his day getting lost in all the Christmas excitement. We leave it up until New Years.
I will put mine up this week, since I have a few days off... but I have been thinking that with the unseasonably warm weather we've had this month, I should have at least put up our outside decorations... it's supposed to be 70 degrees today!! And I'm stuck at work... ugh.
Just when I go to put my outside decorations up, it'll drop to below freezing... :(
As fro taking them down, I usually take them down in the couple weeks following New Years. After having them up for a month or so, I'm ready to get them down and get things back in their place.
We always put up our Christmas tree with various holiday decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving. We take everything down the weekend after New Years.
Halloween goes up the first week of October - that's the one we really go all out (outside).
Thanksgiving - I have fall decorations that go up after Halloween.
Christmas - decorations go up the first week after Thanksgiving and go down New Year's Day.
I am like you, I only go all out at Christmas for the kids. I also get no help putting up or putting away so it is just a chore for me too. Last year was great though, we did a Charlie Brown tree - no ornaments but a few red ones and a string of popcorn. Every year I put less and less out and throw a few away.
Happy Holidays!
i feel the same way about putting them out before christmas - and this year it seems to be worse than ever! my 4yo son informed me as we were discussing it one night, driving around town, seeing how many christmas lights were up - "mom, those aren't christmas lights. it's not christmas. they're thanksgiving lights". i had to chuckle. it's a huge pet peeve of mine. BUT i just focus on thanksgiving, and how thankful i am for all the wonderful gifts in my life. let others skip it if they want. that's not how we roll around here! :) (and yes, decorating for six weeks for ONE day gets a little old - i'm usually taking it down a couple days after too...and i am not a grinch! lol - i LOVE christmas! lol)
When I was growing up the decorations didn't get unpacked until 2 weeks before christmas (I grew up in the 60's) and we didn't decorate our tree until tree until Christmas Eve - which was a few days later than most even then. Of course, back then the stores didn't decorate until right after Thanksgiving. I watched the "creep" of time as stores began decorating earlier and families began to follow. We are such willing consumers that we even "buy" our habits from marketers...
We take them down the weekend after new years - it all depends on when the holiday fall as it relates to days of the week!
Now I decorate Thanksgiving weekend but the tree doesn't go up until the weekend before Christmas. We have a heated slate floor in our living room and if we put the tree (real) up any earlier we'd have a fire hazard by Christmas Eve. Anopther factor is that when the kids were toddlers they would keep playing with the low hanging ornaments (my son at age 1 1/2 would just take a huge swipe at the tree at random times - to see everything sway and shake I think - who knows the mind of an 18 mos old?) so we'd have to re-hang things every day - by day 4 or 5 there was usually a big bare patch in the tree that was at kid level!
My kids are 11 & 14 and I still live in hope that they'll want to help decorate - take out all the precious memories - and as much as they like to stop and look at stuff they don't help much! oh well!
They usually go up the saturday after thanksgiving and down on new years day. We put them up yesterday though. (I wrote a post about this) My husband had ants in the pants. I figured it was not something worth arguing. The house looks beautiful :)
We usually do it Thanksgiving Day. The day is usually just our family (sometimes my brother's family too, since they are only 4 hours away). The rest of our families live two states away, so there's no one to have over for dinner who will care if we are decorating the tree. We have such insanely busy lives with all the kids activities and such, that if we don't do it Thanksgiving Day or at least that weekend, it may not ever get done!! The kdis are usually chomping at the bit to get the decorations out, the sooner the better for them. We have to have an artificial tree, since we travel back home the day after Christmas - and some years, Christmas Day. The tree would be dry and bare by the time we got home! We get the kids a new ornament every year that's special. It's a tradition my parents had for my sibs and me. The year I took ice skating lessons, an ice skater ornament., The year my daughter got her first horse, an ornament with an identical horse on it, etc.
*By the way, my kids are 11, 10, 8 and 19 mos. They are GREAT about helping me get the decorations out........spreading them all over the house....and then abondoning the project. I hate to say it, but they don't really become much of a "help". LOL!!!!
We are in dire need of the cheerfulness of Christmas. I put my lights up the day after Halloween. I love them!! The actual tree wont come until about a week before and will stay up until the day after Christmas. The lights, however, will stay up beyond New Years Day. I wish everyone would put up lights, it makes the world a prettier place for a short period of time.
we decorate the weekend after thanksgiving and leave decoration up until the end of February. It gets me through the winter. I love the holly and christmas trees. It is too pretty to take down right after xmas. They are more of a winter/seasonal decorations then just christmas decorations.
Usually the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I did it yesterday (LOL!) I simply had a day free with my kids. I am quite relieved it is done and we can enjoy it.
Since I love real trees we don't get a tree until after Thanksgiving. Sometimes its the weekend of Thanksgiving, sometimes a week after Thanksgiving. Then I will go through and decorate the house.
In October I put out Halloween and fall decorations. After Halloween I take down the Halloween decor and leave the fall stuff up. So I switch that out after Thanksgiving to Christmas.
I usually take my Christmas stuff down around the 1st of January, depending on how bad the tree is by that point.
Oh and yes, I'm hating the fact my kids see Christmas decorations up already and are begging to put ours out. I have explained over and over, we have to celebrate Thanksgiving first.
I can't stand the Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. We have THREE radio stations already playing 24/7 Christmas music. Like others in this forum, I LOVE Christmas, but the overmarketing of the holiday just makes me cringe.
We decorate the weekend of Thanksgiving, most years. This year, we may decorate the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving since we're travelling for the weekend. That way we can come home to at least a semi-decorated apartment, our Nativity scene, and a fake tree. hahaha.
I always keep our decorations up until the Dia de los Reyes Mago (Three Kings' Day/Epiphany). I generally am good about taking them down the next weekend, but last year, I kept my little tree up until the end of January. I love the little lights on it and it made a great night light. (LED lights on that tree, so it stays cool).
Have fun and MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
I don't blame you in that your kids are younger and perhaps it is much harder to have that kind of stuff around (esp for them to get into)
As for me, I put my Christmas decorations up earlier and earlier each year.
For Halloween , we had them up a month before and for Christmas, right after we took down Halloween , which was the day after Oct 31st, we then put up the Christmas.. Oh it's a bit early :) BUT I LOVE all those lights.. It makes me feel good when they are all lit up... it warms the room.. I suppose for me, it's not just about the lights and mess (which it can be) but having those lights on and colorful decorations make me feel even more festive.. The holidays are about giving thanks, that I do agree and I am so thankful for all those lights... Growing up in foster care and with drunken parents, I had many rotten holidays... I guess you could say, this is my way of making the holidays right...... and lights , glitter and sparkle, definitely help me get in the mood..
It's all personal, do what makes YOU feel good... if not having all that stuff out until last minute works with your schedule.. then by all means.. as your kids get older, they will dictate more of the holiday schedule... by that I mean, they will probably be at your side insisting you put a tree.. by then, you might feel differently about it.. so just go with the flow.. put them up if you want to and if not.. that's ok.. there are NO set rules.... only that you ENJOY your holidays :):)
happy holidays!
We always put up our Christmas decorations the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving. I'm with you...wait til AFTER Thanksgiving! Although...we did take a trip down to Chicago over the weekend to see them light up Michigan Avenue for Christmas...it was really cool! Anyway....I will try to put up the tree and stuff Black Friday or the day after. Then it all comes down by New Years day! Usually I am sick of it by then!!! Time for summer!!! :)
I LOVE Christmas, so if it were up to me, the decorations would be up by now. My hubby, however, has asked that I wait until Thanksgiving night before I begin to do any decorating. We normally take them down sometime soon after the 1st of January. We have occasionally let them stay up til mid-January, but that's not the "norm".
I saw that your girls are 5 and 6...let them help you! My son was a huge help last year at 3! If you make it fun (ooo look at all the glitter, can you find baby Jesus, etc.) they will inevitably want to help. Even with taking down, make it a game; they will probably enjoy it more than you think. Start the tradition of them helping now, and pretty soon you will have more help than you could want/need!
I usually put my mine up the day after Thanksgiving and take it down New Years day.
i put mine up on black friday when everyone is at the stores or the next weekend i have the kiddo's...we make it a decorating party every year, new years day, it comes down
just don't forget to remember thanksgiving :)