Two years ago, both DH and I lost our brothers in November. DH’s brother’s passing was completely unexpected (DH found him dead in his bed after checking on him); we had known my brother was going to pass for several months. That year and the next, we did no outdoor lights, as DH was completely devastated and just not in the mood to do it. I always decorate indoors. The only thing DH has to do is put the tree together, which is admittedly a chore, and bring out all the boxes of decorations from a downstairs closet. I do all the rest.
Even during those hard times, I decorated the inside of the house. It improves the mood and looks pretty. Most of our decorations have been acquired over time, so there is no “put together” look to it, but we like it.
This year we hired a professional lighting group to do our outside lights, and it was money well spent for DH. He is happy with the look and he didn’t have to do it himself. We have 5 holly trees in our driveway. They are completely covered with white (gold looking actually) lights; We also have the same lights covering the trunk and beginning arms of our oak tree. Our crepe myrtle has lights as well, and the driveway perimeter is outlined, all with the same white lights. It looks very pretty.
Our decorations stay up until NYD and then come right down.