Question of the Day - Monday, November 15, 2021

[MoochNNoodles]

I can't believe it's already the middle of November! For me it means it's time to get ready for Thanksgiving...which will roll right into Christmas things... I might as well tell you all Happy New Year right now because the next month and a half usually fly by! We put the lights up on our house this yesterday but only tested them. I've seen several houses around here that have their outside lights on already. I've always been a Thanksgiving/Day after Thanksgiving person; but now it's more "whatever makes you merry." I've had several friends on Facebook start inside on November 1st now!




What is the earliest acceptable time to decorate for holidays for you? (This should apply even if you don't decorate yourself. If you live in the US; it's in the stores and around town where you live making your put up with all the commercial "merry" )



Growing up my Grandma almost always hosted Thanksgiving. So when I was about 9/10 my Mom and I started going home afterwards and put up our Christmas tree that night or the next day. That was maybe a year or two after we started using an artificial tree. We moved away after that but kept up the tradition through the rest of my growing up years.

I've stuck with that for myself too. I'm tempted to put up a tree earlier; but I have fall lights and things all around my kitchen and some into the living room. I usually host Thanksgiving now (even though it's usually just the 6 of us). And some years I'm too tired from all the cooking/baking/cleaning to get the tree up on Thanksgiving. But we get the outside done a few weeks earlier because DH will get busy with work. This way I can just plug in the light timer on Thanksgiving and they are ready to go. I won't get all the stuff from the attic by myself; so I have to wait on DH for that too.

I did grab DD's little tree from the attic this past weekend because she's already done cleaning out her room and organizing it. I didn't get her ornaments though so she stuck a bunch of necklaces on the tree. They do sparkle!


As for seeing it up in stores; I worked for Hallmark when I was in college so anything after September 1st is ok for displays! Just please not in June/July like Hallmark does because of their Keepsake Ornaments!


We have our annual bug/termite inspection coming next week so DH can't pull stuff into the garage just yet anyway. Everything that's normally by a wall is pulled out except for the freezer and mini-fridge. He'll probably put everything back while I cook on Thanksgiving. And then we will start getting down all the totes of Christmas stuff.

 

[susanm9006]

I usually get my outside lights up the first week in November but only so I don’t have to trudge through snow or super cold weather to put them up. Inside doesn’t get done until first or second week of December.

 

[NY cat man]

We don't decorate much for Christmas any more, as Michele doesn't want me getting up on a ladder to string lights. We only put out the carolers figures, and that goes up right after Thanksgiving. With the cats, decorating inside is a recipe for disaster. For Thanksgiving, we hang an autumn-themed wreath on the front door about two weeks beforehand.

 

[game misconduct]

i guess any time in november? maybe i seem to remember my mom"suggesting" to my dad and i on weekends it would be good to get out the ladder and decorations to hang up while the weather is still nice

 

[lorie d.]

Some years I put general fall decorations outside and leave them there until after Thanksgiving. But this year I had Halloween decorations, and on November 1st I put out a windsock that looks like a turkey. I always put out my outside and inside Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving.

 

[Kat0121]

I don't decorate at all but to each his own. Put them up whenever you feel like it and enjoy. There's a guy down the street from me that has Christmas lights up all year long and they do get lit all year long. Not all the time but here and there. If it makes him happy, why not?

 

[BellaGooch]

I don’t really have a preference. We haven’t started decorating yet; we usually wait until after Thanksgiving. I know a family who decorates for Christmas on Halloween. That’s a bit early for me, but to each his own!

 

[Lari]

I think it's okay to put up lights before it gets too cold, but idk about turning them on before Thanksgiving. There's a nearby house that was all done up November 1st, and it just seemed like too much.

 

[neely]

I like to enjoy each holiday separately and not rush the season, i.e. Halloween decorations in October, Fall/Thanksgiving in November and Winter/Holidays in December. I only decorate inside the house now and make sure nothing is within easy reach of Carleton. Although he's pretty good about leaving things alone, unlike Neely who had to inspect everything.

 

[vince]

I don't put up many decorations. They get put up when they get put up, and if they don't, they stay in the closet under the stairs. The cats pester the tree, anyhow (it has a very heavy sturdy stand that they don't seem to be able to tip over, so they can't do all that much damage).

This year, I'm feeling a bit more ambitious, so I think I'll dig the decorations out and put something up this week.

 

[strider rose]

no preference

 

[MonaLyssa33]

November, anytime. For me, I'm planning on putting up my tree in the next week (I pulled it from the garage yesterday, so I at least got the most annoying part done).

 

[Maria Bayote]

I always want to decorate, but surprisingly my kids don't want to. They say its extra work, and the cat and dogs would just ruin the decors. But this year I insisted of putting solar Christmas lights on our steel fence. So since last week of October it has been blinking lights at night.

In our country, we have the longest Christmas season, as early as September and blasting off on November.

 

[Kat0121]

We don't decorate much for Christmas any more, as Michele doesn't want me getting up on a ladder to string lights. We only put out the carolers figures, and that goes up right after Thanksgiving. With the cats, decorating inside is a recipe for disaster. For Thanksgiving, we hang an autumn-themed wreath on the front door about two weeks beforehand.

Yeah. Inside decorations are a no here too. Lilith would probably ignore them but not Sophie. When she gets the zoomies she is like a furry tornado. Every year I'd ask DD if we should put a tree up. Every year she'd ask me if I wanted to see it torn to pieces in less than a day. I swear I could hear Sophie chanting:
"SAY YES! SAY YES! SAY YES!"
Me: No, you're right.
Sophie:

 

[Jem]

We tend to start decorating for Christmas after Remembrance Day (November 11th). That seems to be the going unwritten rule around here when I talk to people about decorating. This is what you tend to see...
Starting in September, people start putting out fall decorations.
Then after Thanksgiving (October 11th in Canada this year), the Halloween stuff gets added to the mix.
The weeks Between Halloween and Remembrance Day, people are starting to clean up their Halloween and (some) fall stuff.
And slowly but surely, after November 11th, more and more houses can be seen decorated for "Winter". Some have Christmas specific stuff out right away, but mostly it's lights, wreaths etc...Santa, reindeer, religious stuff and other Christmas specific things tend to come out more in December.

 

[Mia6]

One of the radio stations started playing Christmas music he day after Halloween. Some people like it,
some don't I only put out a cat nativity scene, so darling.

 

[Winchester]

I put away the Fiesta and get out the Winterberry dishes around Veterans Day. That's usually a two-day job, unpacking and packing, washing, etc. Rick is going to put up the Tacky White Tree in the WeShed this Sunday afternoon. Then Muffin and I will go out and decorate out there. Somehow, it's gotten to be a "thing" that Muffin goes out to the WeShed with me to decorate the TWT.

The tree in the living room will go up Thanksgiving Saturday night. And decorating will begin in earnest that Sunday. Usually that Monday is when Rick will put lights up outside. He doesn't do a lot of lights anymore, just around the holly bushes and one of our big trees. He always puts light up on the WeShed deck for me to enjoy when I'm out there. And we have a vintage blo-mold snowman and Santa Claus that he puts on the deck, too.

 

[aliceneko]

Mid November is when our first lights start going up.

 

[DownTheLane]

We have Sinterklaas here on the 5th of November. After that is early enough to start decorating. Although we finally get to go one year without! I can't wait until I move out and can decide if I still want to do it