My husband and I just moved into our first house. I am unsure of when I should start to decorate outside. I am really excited about decorating this year since it is our first house. When do you start?
2006-10-31 13:48:55 · 61 answers · asked by Sam468 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Christmas
Oh my goodness....you mean you have started yet?
No, seriously.....usually after Thanksgiving, unless you want to be labeled as a fruitcake....Congratulations and good luck.
2006-10-31 13:53:10 · answer #1 · answered by bluejeanrose 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Congratulations on your new house! This will be a very special Christmas for you.
When I was a kid, we used to do everything just a few days before Christmas and it was always stressful and there wasn't a lot of Christmas spirit while all this was happening.
The outside lights can be put up now before the weather gets nasty--just don't turn them on until later. If you get a little dusting of snow, they'll look beautiful.
As for the indoor decorations, I think it would be nice to start the first week in December. I agree with the others about letting Thanksgiving go by first. The holidays are starting to run all together, which is a shame because each one has its own set of flavors and traditions.
How busy will your holiday be? If you have lots of parties planned and events to go to, you might want to get the tree up sooner rather than later. Christmas isn't as much fun when you are exhausted.And decorating the tree can be an ongoing project, too. You can get the majority of decorations on the tree and I'll bet, since this is your first house, you'll get more than one special ornament from your friends in honor of your new home.
Here's an idea for you: a housewarming/Christmas tree decorating party! You can introduce new neighbors to old friends and have a jolly time all around.
We'll probably be putting our tree up the second weekend of December and leave it up until the end of January! We did that last year and it was much more relaxing.
We discovered a breed of evergreen tree called a CONCOLOR, which has a distinctive citrus aroma to the thick needles when you rub them. They last quite a long time, too, and are very pretty.
Don't forget to take pictures! And you can start baking Christmas cookies now and store them in metal cookie tins. Yummy...
Merry Christmas, in advance, and please take time to reflect on the real "Reason for the Season".
Bless us all.
2006-10-31 14:52:32 · answer #2 · answered by ? 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I started this tradition way back when my kids were little ones. On Thanksgiving night while we are all sitting around stuff from turkey and pies I pull out one of my many Santa's and find his special spot and play my Christmas albums, YES the good old vinyl its tradition I will play them till I cant play them any more LOL. Then each day while the kids were in school I would pull out one more thing and they would rush home to see what it was and where it was. We attempt to hang our lights outside the first not so cold weekend after thanksgiving; we usually will not turn them on until December 15th. Once the 15th comes I go all out and get all the lights and decorations outside and beam brightly for the neighbors. We always get a real tree and it usually does not go up until the week before Christmas or the weekend before depending when Christmas falls.
2006-10-31 14:35:47 · answer #3 · answered by Karen 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Christmas IS my time of year. I start making my decorations (wreaths, garlands, etc).,in August. I use ornaments and such that i purchased last year starting at the day AFTER christmas. It is amazing what you can buy for a fraction of the cost these Christmas items sold for BEFORE Christmas. Every year i add to my boxes of lights in every color and design, add to my wrapping and ribbon supply, always buying premium items for pennies on the dollar. I completely SKIP fall and Thanksgiving decorations readying wall and table space for Christmas decorations. I usually start putting up decorations inside my house a week or so before Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving, I get my lights on my trees and shrubbery outside, my front porch is lit up and there is a beautiful wreath on my front door. As soon as the Christmas tree lot opens for business, i buy my tree. I leave it undecorated (keeping it away from heat and keeping the trunk in lots of water) until the first week in december. Then the lights and deco goes on. You dont want a dried up looking tree by dec 25, so dont get your tree TOO early. Merry Christmas and I'll be thinking of you when im putting up my lights in my new house this year! Have fun and i dont think you can overdue it...the more lights, the better!
2006-10-31 16:43:46 · answer #4 · answered by kristy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I used to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving. Between working and preparing the Thanksgiving Dinner, that weekend became exhausting. Now I decorate the weekend before Thanksgiving. It frees the weekend after the turkey dinner! I try to decorate outside any time prior to that (especially if the weather is good), but I don't turn the lights on until late November.
2006-10-31 13:57:06 · answer #5 · answered by Paige2 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
We live in Australia and we usually decorate the house on Nov 30th. Then we turn on the Christmas lights on Dec 1st. We put lights up on the outside of the house and I put up the tree and decorate the inside of the house. We play Xmas carols all through December. I post out my Xmas cards on the 1st December.
Merry Christmas to all. (Iknow that is a bit early but I thought I would get in first.)
2006-10-31 21:21:09 · answer #6 · answered by jojammum48 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Years ago like when my parents were children back in the 20s and 30s, the tree was never seen by the children until Christmas morning..
With my kids and I started (some 50 yrs later), usually two weeks before Christmas when they were younger, but as the season got so much more commercialized I ended starting Thanksgiving weekend.
There's no real wrong or right answer, its what you would like to do, not what any of us do.
2006-10-31 15:29:39 · answer #7 · answered by akablueeye 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Advent season is the four Sundays before Christmas.
I start putting up lights now before it gets cold you don't have to turn them on yet but it beats freezing putting them up. Each Sunday I add a little more decorations and put up my tree the last Sunday. There are 12 days of Christmas so I don't take down the tree till after 3 Kings day.
2006-10-31 16:14:23 · answer #8 · answered by timex846 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I always decorate on December 1st,it is my Birthday present to myself,now the Christmas lights on the outside of my house go up Thanksgiving Day after we eat,kind of relaxes you after pigging out!
2006-10-31 14:54:40 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can begin to decorate the day after Thanksgiving.
I do! I put my tree up the first day of December and take it down 3 days after New Years.
2006-10-31 13:58:22 · answer #10 · answered by NyceGyrl 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A majority of families start decorating Thanksgiving weekend as you normally have more time accomplish it. We always decorated our tree Thanksgiving night and finished up Saturday with the house decorations.
2006-10-31 13:54:54 · answer #11 · answered by Sparkles 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋