I try for the first weekend after thanksgiving . But this year in our new home , I am so excited , I have started to buy things and kind of place them where they will be staying ! Lol my dh asked me about it , and I said I'm just testing it out ! But no , they will stay !
We will have friends over for thanksgiving so I am going to slow down . But Black Friday , after shopping my heart out , I will decorate .
We are going to have a artificial tree on the upstairs window ledge , and one in the dining room. Then one real one in living room. I'm super excited !! This is the first time my decor will have a real home and I can buy with purpose .
I did purchase a large nativity for the fireplace I adore . So excited !!

AFTER Thanksgiving and before our annual party (second weekend in Dec)

Today is November the 4th. Christmas tree - really? :)

My son's birthday is November 24 and we have our huge family dinner with everyone (nieces, nephews, spouses, girl/boy friends, in-laws ) on December 6th and Christmas everything happens between those 2 dates. Decorating, baking, shopping, tree-buying, etc.

When I was a kid, we put the tree up on Christmas Eve. Santa decorated it overnight. It went down on the 12th day of Christmas.

Now I have a fake tree and it goes up about two weeks before Christmas.

My new tradition is to do one Christmasy thing every day from Dec. 1 to Dec.24. So the Advent calendar goes up Dec. 1. The Christmas mugs come out one day. The nativity set goes up one day. It makes things a little less crazy.

I'm going to try something new. Just greens and ribbons and candles for the first half of December and then the snowmen, bells, angels, lights, etc. for the last half. I need a little peace on my earth before the party begins.

Our decorating starts Nov. 17 this year. There is not enough time after Thanksgiving to get it all done before our first party of the year. Luckily, we are having two completely different sets of people for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so no one (except us) will experience Christmas overload o

I don't start until after Thanksgiving. Tree usually goes up first (it's artificial, pre-lit), and DH takes care of that. Usually he does it one day when I'm at work. When I get around to it, I drag the ornaments out and we put them on sometime around the first of Dec. It depends on how busy we are. I didn't decorate much last year. I really kept it much more simple than I used to when the Grandkids were smaller and at our house a lot more than they are now.

Christmas Eve --- you see the tree when you open the presents.

We used to put up our main tree the day after Thanksgiving, but I like to actually relax and enjoy my Thanksgiving weekend with my DH and daughter who'll be home from college, so now DH & I put up it up around December 1st. We leave it with just the lights on, though, until DD gets back for Winter Break around the 15th. We have a little tree decorating evening, complete with carols and eggnog then. All of our trees have to be artificial, as I'm allergic to the real ones. I also put up narrow 7-ft ones in the guest room and DD's room. She decorates hers when she gets home for Break. I decorate the Western-themed guest room tree sometime during the first week in December.
Lynn

I'm so not ready for Christmas this year. I just took down all my Halloween stuff and put it back in storage. Sometime early in December we'll put it up. I really just supervise anymore, my teenage girls have it down pat .. They make the tree look nicer than I do. ;) All of them have an 'interior decorator' gene. LOL

I used to love Christmas. I still love the meaning of Christmas, but hate that Christmas TV commercials are running the first week of November. It's shoved down our throats and doesn't feel special anymore.

I usually get a tree (a real one) around Dec. 12-15. It can come down as soon as Dec. 26th. No 12 days of Christmas for me. On the 26th, I'm already thinking about Spring Training.

Just don't be like the dumb stores, who put it up next to the Halloween stuff.

I may wait until Christmas Eve for the tree, but I like to get my kitchen into the wintry spirit early.

{{!gwi}}

This post was edited by nosoccermom on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 18:14

I just mute the ads and do something else.

Traditionally we go to a tree farm and cut our own tree early in December. Fresh trees last a long time, allowing us to keep it up until January 6th.

A couple of years ago we went faux, because as empty nesters, it is now our choice, which means as easy as possible! Last year we did go to a tree farm with our youngest DD and her roomies and cut a fresh tree with them. We drove it to their Boston apartment and DH carried it up to their 3rd floor apartment.

Lynn, like you, when the girls were in college we held out until they were home and could make it a family event.

Here's a pic from last year at the tree farm. Billie made friends with the owner's Golden Retriever.

Nosoccermom, that is so darn cute.

BonnieAnn, She seems like she is playing hard to get!

>Today is November the 4th. Christmas tree - really? :)

Oh honey, you clearly haven't been near a store in the past, um, 6-8 weeks have you? LOL I know it gets said every year but really, eventually there will be a 365-day Christmas season if this pushing keeps going!

As for us, we've long had the same tradition which is that we get the tree and get it up over the long Thanksgiving weekend. As others have said, it's when I have time to spend decorating so that's nice. I like my tree down for New Year's Day so doing it then gives me a nice 4 week holiday spirit celebration.

My only problem this year is that I just simply am not into shopping and buying stuff any more! Our kids are grown, nobody needs a damn thing (in fact we need to get rid of stuff) so the whole shopping and wrapping thing holds very little appeal. OTOH, can't have a tree without gifts underneath...

Ann

Ann,

Find a local charity (school, church, firehouse, shelter) that is doing a giftdrive. Sometimes you get a list of things, sometimes you get genders and ages, sometimes you shop totally random. Then do a day of shopping for total strangers; it's especially fun to do this with someone.

Then wrap them, but wrap them upside down and leave the bottom (really the top) uncovered. That way you have a pretty tree to look at with presents underneath. The presents have a real purpose and will go to someone who really needs and wants them and appreciates them. It's truly what Christmas is about.

Depending upon the entity, you will need to bring them a few days before the holiday. Most need them not fully wrapped so they know what they are.

Mtn, not my kitchen :)

Billie looks very blase.

I don't put up a tree any more but I put other Christmas decorations up the first weekend in December.

I normally start decorating Thanksgiving weekend. Since our new house has several rooms with 10 foot ceilings, my 5 1/2 foot tree was not going to cut it. Sold that on CL over the weekend and order a 7 foot tree online. I wanted to go taller but DH refused to have a tree that we'd need a ladder to decorate. Funny, I'm the only one that does the decorating.

Can't wait to get everything out and find new special places for all my beloved items!

Okay, so clearly next week is too early! I love reading the responses! Everyone is so different. I love the kitchen nosoccermom- very ingenious! Billie looks very content, bonnieann925.

My birthday is December 11th, so usually the weekend closest to that.

The week before the holiday. My family always waits until all the out-of-town family has arrived before cutting a fresh tree, putting it up and decorating it together, and it doesn't come down until mid-January after everyone has left. My window lights and outdoor white lights stay up until around Valentine's day because it is so dark here in the winter.

We're one of those sad folks that dumped the tree a few years ago. We've spent all but one of the last ten years in colorado with DD, leaving home a week before Christmas. We will however put up wreaths and garland outside the week after thanksgiving and set up our small nativity scene in the den, but that's the extent of our decorating now. I do get joy from DD's tree seeing ornaments that we used when she was a baby, including some beautiful ornaments made by my grandmother and the figures from her infant mobile that we repurposed as ornaments. It is also ery sweet to watch DSIL with collection of the ornaments his grandfather gave him every Christmas since he was born. Pinky DSIL is allowed t hand those pieces and it gives him much pleasure. There will be no more of those because his DGF died last month. So this year decorating the tree will be a bit bittersweet. DH and i will go back to our own trees in a few years when we retire and move next door to them. I've carefully packed my favorites for use then.

Usually Thanksgivng weekend. But DH leaves tomorrow for a week, and I've been considering doing the decorating while he's gone. It will give me something to do over the weekend (or that's what I'm telling myself).

But then I realize that we're in a new house, with a totally different style, in a new part of the country, and I don't know that I even want to use any of the stuff I have. I need to measure, but I'm pretty sure our tree (only two years old) will be too tall for this house and I'll need to do something different.

So, I think instead I'll just enjoy shopping for and browsing among all the holiday decor that's out there, and pick up a few things. What I NEED to do while DH is gone is hang things on the walls. We've been in since July and I've hung ONE THING. I'm so afraid of damaging the plaster walls that I haven't even gotten up the gumption to use the command hangars!

Considering I have yet to pack up Halloween decor and put out some Thanksgiving decorations, the thought of putting up a tree and everything Christmas just makes me tired. It may happen the first week of December. Right now I just wanna focus on Thanksgiving, it truly is one of my very favorite holidays.

We put up the tree on my birthday, December 17, which is the beginning of the "O Antiphons", i.e. "O Key of David", etc. , one name for Jesus for each of the 8 days of the octave of Christmas. I love it. When our three girls were young we would light the advent wreath candles and sing Oh Come Emmanuel each night, which has different verses with the antiphons for the eight days of the octave.
Then we take down the tree on the day after Epiphany which is the 6th of Jan (also known as Three Kings day).

I used to not put up the tree until the day after Thanksgiving, but last year (and this year) it is so late! I will probably put up the week before so I can enjoy it for a month. I take it down before New Year's Day, since my grandmother told me it was bad luck to have any decorations up after the NY. ;)

Some of you put up the tree before Thanksgiving? Huh. Can't imagine mixing the two holidays - maybe because I like T'day more.

I haven't had a tree in many years but no Christmas decorating is done here until the weekend before the day and all is stored away on New Years Day. I prefer it to be arranged around the special day rather than make it into a season. I don't do the festoon everything in sight type of decorating though.

I don't do a tree anymore..the holiday just stresses me out to no end and I can no longer enjoy it.

However, my husbands family,who we spend Christmas with, puts the tree up on christmas eve and it's gone by new years. Growing up, I think we probably had it up 2-3 weeks before Christmas

The earliest I've ever put up my tree(s) is during the first week of December, usually decorating done by end of first week. I like to do it in 2 or 3 days, then enjoy it for about a month. Depends a lot on what we are doing tho. Years ago our traditions were different when we had a real tree and when the kids were home.

I live in Canada where it's cold so decorating at this time of year with extra lights, color, and glitter makes the month of December more enjoyable. Since Canadian Thanksgiving is in October I have fall decor up from September to end of November in it's various incarnations (Fall, then Thanksgiving, then Halloween, and back to Fall again) so by December I'm ready to lose the fall colors and do something different.

We put the tree up Dec. 5 if it's artificial, and Dec. 15 if it's live. We hang a wreath on the front door Dec. 5.

We will put lights around the garage and along the front deck in November (before it's too cold and snowy to mess with them), but won't turn them on until Dec. 5

We leave everything up and lit until after Epiphany.

Short answer is we put ours up usually the day after Thanksgiving.

Honestly I'm torn about putting a big tree up this year. I'm in the process of working on the kitchen project and it seems like a lot of extra work and visual clutter. Mainly the clutter and I have to rearrange and move things out of the room for it. I usually take the tree down New Years day, but last year it came down the day after Christmas because I felt smothered with all the *stuff*. It wasn't an excessive amount, but just too much unorganized stuff. I've learned I really don't like clutter. It makes me grouchy.

We have a 7.5' large artificial tree. It's very pretty and very realistic, but huge. I don't want to get rid of it because all the artificial ones in the store I think look just that, but I always want to see it decorated/layered to the fullest and it takes a long time. Then I spent the next few weeks fighting off the cats.

I tried to convince myself to put a small tree up in the foyer and call it done, but it won't seem right not having one in the LR.

When everything else is up, we wheel the tree out of the closet uncover it, and add a few delicate items and it's good to go, but we still have a long way to go in our extensive display.

Never before Thanksgiving. I like to fully enjoy/appreciate each holiday. Will go up sometime that day/weekend after Thanksgiving.

Day after thanksgiving. It's an artificial tree :)

Last year I decorated (and took them down) when I had the free time - I keep my grandson and preschool last year was only three hours long. This year is more flexible, and while I don't "feston everything in site" it still takes time, so if I'm going to the trouble (and while I enjoy, it is some trouble!) I want to enjoy them for more than a few days. Depending on DD2s work schedule, it may be before or after Thanksgiving. I will figure it out later.

Apurternut, was your original GW name SusieQ? I teased DH we would have a Christmas tree closet in our next house so we could just wheel it out and back in easily.

Tinam61, I enjoy each holiday also. Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite meal!

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I'd sooner do a small tree than a fake one ... the fresh scent is so important to the holiday in my mind. So is the afternoon spent getting the tree.

We often do a tree in the dining room and another in the family room. I really like to see the tree at dinner.

I don't always do a tree but enjoy getting real ones. One year I convinced DH to go for a fake silver tree--that thing smelled like sheer poison. Couldn't get rid of it fast enough. I think they just spraypainted a green tree with tremclad.

I'm hosting book club Christmas party on December 10 this year so I hope I'll get mine up on the 6th.

My husband and I tried to skip Christmas altogether a few years ago -- my family was a bit upset. Then my grandfather had a health crisis and that was the end of skipping Christmas. I'll try again in about 20 years.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 11:06

Friday after Thanksgiving! And it comes down Christmas evening. Everything gets put away the next day. I drink it in the whole month though. With something every night, just about. Movies, church events, mom's house, dinners, the little bitty one with just my son, etc. So by then, I am really sated and ready to look forward to the new year and all it brings. Including crocuses. I try to enjoy every month/season for what it is, has a lot to do with that though.

The first year we were married, I put up a live tree. The Sunday after Xmas, which happened to be the 26th, my husband went to church and I decided the tree was too dry and a hazard so I took it down while I had the house to myself. When my husband returned from church, he told me his parents and sister were on the way over to see our tree. I didn't know it was their tradition to visit each other to see the trees. Whoops. There's the tree on the porch waiting to be dragged to the curb and here are the boxes the ornaments are in. Pretty, no?

Most years I don't put up a tree. I put up a tree the first one or two years we were married but didn't enjoy it so I stopped for many years. When my niece and nephew starting visiting us for the month of December, we did a tree again for 4-5 years. They will not be visiting this year so no tree is planned.

When I do a tree, and it's live, I wait until a week or so before Xmas. If I use our fake one, I put it up the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving. I don't have a set tear down day, it depends on tree dryness, my schedule, if I'm tired of the look and need a clean slate.

We decorate inside and out the Friday-Sunday after Thanksgiving. Then the first weekend in December we host our annual Christmas party. It has been our tradition since we got married in 1997. Our friends consider our party to be the entrance to the holiday season each year.

We then leave the tree up until the first weekend after New Year's Day occurs.

I have a MCM house with a huge atrium in the center with glass all around so we put the tree out in the atrium so we can see it from everywhere. It gets rained on and the surrounding trees throw down leaves, needles and cones, and moss to add to the decorations. We have always had a real tree but we bought a beautiful artificial one last year for this Christmas. It has red berries and pine cones and looks like ice on the branches, really pretty. So we will probably put it up early to enjoy it as much as possible since we will be out of town for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My house/dog sitter will be able to enjoy it too.
We don't get snow and ice here much but the tree in the atrium with snow on it is just beautiful. We do put lights on it but very few decorations.

For my neighbor, apparently November 6 is the day. Lights glowing through the front window tonight.

(Yes, I can imagine all kinds of reasons that they would do it this early)

In restaurant today, the staff were hauling in the Rubbermaid tubs of decorations. I joked for them to put it away for a few weeks; the manager said she'd love to but we have a community tree lighting the day after Thanksgiving and it takes her 3 weeks to get everything up! She has to squeeze it in during the few quiet moments in the restaurant.

Meanwhile I still have a giant spider and web on my front porch.

Whenever DS and his wife come to put it up. Or maybe the other DS and his girlfriend. Hopefully AFTER Thanksgiving. If left up to me, I wouldn't put it up. The only thing I hate more than decorating a tree is wrapping presents. We've moved toward giving only $$ or gift cards. (They don't have to be wrapped.) I do stuff great stockings, though.

The most satisfying job of all is taking the tree down. I look forward to undecorating and putting everything away, usually the day after Christmas. I undecorate the tree and take it apart and carry everything down to the basement storage. I don't mind that at all. I love getting back to normal and starting my countdown to spring.

The local police advised us never to put a tree where it can be seen from the street so that robbers will not want to break in. Won't they just see other decorations and assume gifts will be in the house?
I used to like seeing it through the window as we walked up. Having it in the other room is not as good, but I don't want to encounter a robber. Keeping the curtains shut all the time feels oppressive.

kittymoonbeam your local police must be MEN with no thought to DUH it is Christmas time EVERY HOUSE has gifts--wrapped yet or not. My tree/decorations go up the weekend after Thanksgiving. We try and have all the outside decorations up earlier--hopefully on a warmish day!! I light them for the first time on the First Sunday in Advent. I always leave the inside set for Fall/Thanksgiving until after Thanksgiving. If we eat to Christmas decor at Thanksgiving--what will be different Christmas??? Christmas is too important to relegate to 12 days. It is one of two events in history that cannot be REMEMBERED enough. I HATE that Halloween was stolen and turned into so much more than it should be--I combat it with much a do about Christmas and Easter!! I don't have the "excuse" of hosting many parties so I need the ambiance..but still I have no apologies for PREPARING long and earnestly for one of the greatest events in the history of mankind!!

I usually start our main tree the Sat. after Thanksgiving but since Thanksgiving is later this year and we aren't hosting I am going to start the week before Thanksgiving. Won't do the foyer tree or other decorations until after Thanksgiving.

We have a very full 10' artificial tree. It is put together branch by branch rather than in sections. Working on it several hours a day it takes me about a week to complete. When we aren't hosting Thanksgiving, I like to get it up early so we can enjoy it. Our tree is in our family room in the back of our house so no one sees it from the street.

I'm shooting for Dec. 6, between 2PM and 4PM eastern.
Casey