We start setting up our outdoor Christmas decorations soon. Mostly because of the weather. By Christmas we could have a foot of snow on the ground, and temperatures approaching 0Â°ï€ So to get the outdoor decorating done more comfortably we do it early. Amoung a number of items around the house, I choose a spruce tree out in the woods, 3 or 400 feet away from the house, and decorate it with many strings of lights. We complete the inside decorating in late November, and turn on the outdoor lighting then. We are faced with the same weather concerns when it comes time to take it all down, so usually we wait untill spring for the outdoor decorations, however we stop lighting it sometime in early January. The stores here have some Christmas merchindise on display now, most comes out just before Thanksgiving. We also have a Christmas store, open all year, selling just Christmas items, and another store that has a Christmas section open all year. They have been operating for several years, so there must be enough business to support them. I have seen some people that set up and light their trees in October, and keep them until March. I suppose it is all a mater of customs and personal desires. Tom
I belive you already said so, and I forgot. Sorry! Your Christmas preparations are a lot like mine anyway. Calomaar - I think you're so right about customs and desires.
We generally put our decorations up after Thanksgiving as well. But we've never had a real tree. Probably because it was more cost-efficient growing up to re-use the artificial one each year. It comes in handy also so that the cat isn't to apt to nibble on it (he loves eating/chewing on plants) and I find that it also saves from having a mess to clean up. Though I do think it'd be nice to have a real one. The scent of pine would be nice. It does seem as though stores are putting Christmas items out sooner and sooner each year. And though, yes, everyone does have their own customs and traditions, so it helps for decorations and such to be available, I don't believe stores have our best interests at heart. It seems to be their way of geting a head-start on the competition. An attempt at bringing in more money. Nonetheless, I like the early morning shopping trip the morning after Thanksgiving. All the stores have their sales, as they do after Christmas as well. Gotta love sales!
It bothers me seeing christmas stuff going up in stores so early. I never start my shopping till sometime in December. Though that may be just cause Im a procrastinator I do enjoy Christmas tho We dont really have any traditions, we kind of decide what well do depending on everyones schedules Some of us work Christmas Eve or Day >_< And our tree is fake Ah well, its ok
When we don't get a live tree to plant, we put the old tree in our habitat-for-nonhumanity brush pile that is home to many a bunny.
