Well, we don’t take ours down until after Christmas which is AFTER January 1st. B-)
What rule is that, socaldad? You can come enjoy my tree.
@psychmomma Leaving the tree up befuddles D1’s bf. He keeps saying, "You know, it’s January. You know, it’s February. Last year he did me the “favor” of taking it down in March. Awck. This year, I made it plain, no favors. 
He’s a good guy.
I still have the pumpkins out on my front steps! The fresh wreath I and poinsettias ordered from the HS band will be here after next weekend. That’s as much as I have planned so far.
We put up two trees, both artificial (which I love!) and they will go up sometime this week. We have everyone over to help decorate and it’s lots of fun. I like to enjoy my trees for several weeks and I always am kind of sad when it’s time to take them down. Funny how everyone loves to help decorating but they are all conveniently busy when it’s time to un-decorate! Our outdoor lights were installed last week and we weren’t the first on our street.
Two of my Ds put theirs up the weekend after Halloween.
I will confess a secret here no one in my real life knows. I would be fine with minimal Christmas, a nice mantel, etc. It’s hubbys absolute favorite. The kids aren’t here to help. I have hired an acquaintance who decorates gardening stores to put up and most importantly take down the trees. We have 2 trees, one of which is 12 ft tall. She brings some young guys to help and we don’t even have to lug out our boxes. It’s all our decorations, but done much better and no effort on my part.
I think this time of year it is important to let “you do you” - at least to some degree. Want your tree up for 2 months? Go for it. Satisfied with just a decorated mantel - enjoy the mantle and don’t worry about more!
I think it can be hard when our “kids” - who are now mostly grown - still have expectations. They want things the same as they “always” have been. And that sentiment is not lost…but should not come at all costs to you!
It was the warmest/nicest it’s been in a while here today…mild, nearly 50. The outside decor (oh, and the indoor decor) is up to me - so today I did get the front of the house and back of the house lights, mini trees set, etc. BUT I’m not plugging them in until December 1! Cause that’s me doing me.
Normally, it would have gone up on Friday while my daughter was home, but we’re going away on Thursday for 10 days and last year, the kitten gnawed some of the lights on the brand new tree! Even though my son will be here, I’m going to wait until we get back to finish decorating.
I think once I have grandchildren, I will find more pleasure in putting up a tree again. Also, my family does not exchange gifts so there are no presents to put under the tree. I give my children cash and the old folks don’t give gifts as we have all we need. We do play games for “prizes” that I have bought so everyone goes home with something.
Although I don’t put up a tree, I do use the Christmas dishes for dinner so things are a little festive.
Orthodox Christmas is January 7th, so we will never take down our decorations earlier than Orthodox New Years (H’s side is Orthodox). H would leave our trees up all year if I agreed to it. It’s fun to hear the variety. We all do what makes us happy. I would love a storage area where I could just push the trees. I have to be in the right kind of mood to enjoy decorating the trees. The other decor, I seem to always love putting out and arranging.
Got our tree(s). We are “renting” the Turkish fir and the Colorado spruce to our friends. Picea Orientalis is going into our living room for 2 weeks and then it will he planted at the end of our driveway.
We put ours up yesterday because our DD wanted to be part of decorating so we got it done before she went back to school. Feels very early to me too!
Next weekend for us. H will go get the tree at the local tree farm this week and it will sit in the garage in a bucket of water until the weekend. I don’t get a terribly big tree and they are usually around $25 for a fur. I am one who has collected ornaments since I was a young girl so I love unpacking them and remembering when I got each one. We don’t do the whole house…wreath on the door, garland on the stairwell, tree and the stockings on the fireplace.
My husband is soooo against wreaths. He says, “It is Jesus’s birthday, not his funeral!” Lol. I gave up and just don’t put one up. We do lights on the bushes and “blue and white” themed tree and some floral arrangements. I do know all of my ornaments and love to unwrap them.
I will pull out my Christmas Chirp china tomorrow.
Sometime this week. We have two trees, one has the ornaments the girls have collected (or had collected for them) over the past 25+ years and goes in the family room. I was hoping we’d gotten rid of the living room tree, as the lights don’t work and the middle section annoys me, but no; it is still in our storage room upstairs. Maybe I can persuade H to come out with me to find a new one.
We have masses of Christmas decor, much collected from travels, that gets spread throughout the main floor of the house. I’m thinking of culling some of the ordinary and keeping the special at the end of the year. I held myself to just a few tree ornaments while on our vacation this year, so I’m trying!
A friend does a wreath-making party every year on her mini farm, so that will be upon Saturday.
“What rule is that, socaldad?”
Not a rule but custom and tradition in the U.S.
I think the new tradition is the outside lights go up and come down whenever the hired installer gets around to your house :))
We usually put our (artificial) trees up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but everything is running so early this year that it feels a bit weird. We’ve had an insanely busy couple of months though, so in a way it feels good to get it done so that we can just kick back and enjoy it through December. We have a ton of Christmas decorations but aside from the trees I’m not super interested this year. Maybe I’ll feel less Grinchy once we actually hit December.
"I think the new tradition is the outside lights go up and come down whenever the hired installer gets around to your house "
In my neck of the woods, when lights go up and down has a strong correlation to a warm spot in the weather. Warm December, more lights. Cold December and the neighborhood looks less festive.
Outside decorations went up yeaterday, because it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, and as as we seem to be well on our way towards setting a record for yearly (60 inches and counting) precipitation, we aren’t waiting.
I also put up the tree yesterday. It’s an artificial one. Since dryness isn’t an issue, we bask in its glow for as long as possible. I love it as a way to fend off those way-too-early sunsets of December.
I’ve shared this before. Once upon a time we decided to burn our tree in the back yard after the holidays. It wasn’t dry, hadn’t been dropping needles. It burst into flames in a way that was honestly frightening. I love the smell of a live tree, but that was the end of real trees for this family.
Those who get cut trees…what is your thought on how “fresh” a cut tree will stay if you purchase it and keep it outside in a bucket of water for a week to 10 days before bringing it in the house???
I’d like to take advantage of a Costco tree but they only have them for a short period of time usually but I promised D2 we would not put it up before she gets home the weekend of Dec. 8. - I was thinking of getting one more towards this coming weekend.