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How early is too early for Christmas?
Replies
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I'm now thinking about this in regards to a normal year, and it really depends on where you live.
In the U.S., we have 3 major holidays in 3 months...Halloween at the end of October, Thanksgiving at the end of November, and Christmas at the end of December. All involve various levels of planning, shopping, and decorating. Some people love this, others find it exhausting (In a normal year, I'm in somewhere in the middle). There is inevitably a lot of marketing overlap, which annoys a lot of people.
That's why you're hearing a lot of...
I don't want to think about Thanksgiving until after Halloween...
I don't want to think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving...
In countries that don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, I can see the appeal of starting your Christmas season early. Even in Canada, which celebrates their Thanksgiving in October, there is a considerable "break" between then and Christmas.3 -
Girl, whatever floats your boat! Who says no to joy? The Grinch, that's who!2
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All of 2020 can go to hell! It started with the death of my father in January 2020 and then it just continued to go south...too many things, outside of the obvious - worldly issues to mention...
I'm actually loving seeing the X-mas stuff that is out now....the earlier the better. We all need something to look forward to. We all just need to start to believe that it will get better...it's coming. Plus, I don't want to go back to our normal....I sure hope to hell we've evolved into mindful, enlightened souls.7 -
Normally I don't put anything up until a few days before Christmas, or I get really fed up tripping over it.
Came across #shinebrightscotland on Instagram yesterday though, and loved it. The campaign is to encourage people across Scotland to put up all the fairy lights to try and brighten up what is inevitably going to be a long old winter. I'm not in Scotland, but might dig the lights out anyway
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It’s *kitten* 2020, no rules on this. Do whatever your little heart desires 🎄2
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »If starting Christmas early makes you happy, then you should do it.
For me, in a normal year, it has to be after Thanksgiving...usually I put up the tree the first week of December.
This year, everything Christmas is going to depress me, because I know I won't be able to see all my family and celebrate like we usually do. I'm not doing well with the "everything is normal" crowd.
This is completely me this year. Normally I get very nostalgic during the holidays, with great anticipation of having our adult kids home for Christmas. Christmas has always been about family and children to me. Operating an in home daycare most of my working life I've had plenty of children during the holidays, to bake with, decorate with, prepare and celebrate the holidays with. Then when my own kids would come around, it was the climax of a wonderful season.
Not this year. I'm retired. My BIL is dying and my sister is going through a most hellish time of her life, And most likely 2 of our 3 adult children will not be flying home.
It's very different and I try to be grateful for what is good in life. My gratitude just isn't what it needs to be. So every time I get in a store or see Christmas mentioned anywhere, it stabs me in the heart.
I used to love decorating, baking, planning, (not so much shopping) so the earlier the better for me to get in the mood.
So yeh, for those who enjoy it, definitely do it! For those others, get through it the best we can and pray/hope 2020 never repeats itself.7 -
claireychn074 wrote: »@SuzySunshine99 I get that - maybe that’s why I’m starting early 🤷♂️ I love buying and wrapping presents and supporting charities, so I guess this is me trying to make myself feel better. I’m sorry it’s making you feel bad x
And I’m in the UK so don’t have Thanksgiving otherwise I guess I’d be going full throttle on that!
And don't feel bad about making anyone feel bad; we'd be going through these feelings no matter what.
My problem is I think too much, I need to get out of myself and realize we're lucky to have such a beautiful world given to us and there is still much good around us every day.
We have a wonderful Christmas Santa Fund that the Fire Dept. holds every year, has since the 50's. And some local dog/cat shelters that are always in need. It's time I start thinking of how I can help others instead of worrying about me. May be a good way to foster the Christmas spirit!! 6 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »This year, everything Christmas is going to depress me, because I know I won't be able to see all my family and celebrate like we usually do. I'm not doing well with the "everything is normal" crowd.
My mom died a week before Christmas in 2017, and she was always a huge fan of Christmas and went all out decorating, especially after my sister and I moved away (we'd usually visit on Christmas most years). When going through her stuff later, my sister made us keep most of the Christmas stuff (I took a little bit back, my dad has it all in storage), because it is just so sentimental to her (I was on a bit more of a Mari Kondo kick -- thank the items for bringing your loved one such joy, and then let go of it -- but let my sister decide).
Anyway, that year we didn't celebrate Christmas at all, other than a dinner at which we talked about my mom, and then the following year I put up my tree and everything late and didn't really understand why I kept putting it off, and then on Christmas Eve I put on carols and rushed around decorating the tree and wrapping some presents before my sister came over and just had a huge rush of sadness and tears, since everything I was doing reminded me so very strongly of my mom. Now it feels more comforting that I do think of her so strongly then, and I'm looking forward to doing what I can for Christmas this year with lights and decorations.
I totally get why decorating might feel painful and depressing or go along with a feeling of loss, although I actually am looking forward to decorating and so on this year, and seeing what my neighbors do.
{HUGS} to you; losing anyone you love is painful enough but during a holiday season, it feels like an extra stab to the heart. I hope you can grab hold of some of your mom's holiday spirit this year, smile tenderly when you think of all the memorable times that you've had because of her.
Life can still be good.1 -
I am normally very vocal about separating out the holidays. Every holiday gets their time. So the day after Thanksgiving then Christmas can start.
My son however convinced me to do some Christmas stuff early this year and so we went all out. I went out and bought a huge tree (9ft is huge for my house) and all the decorations. We put it up last weekend and everyday I come home from work and turn the lights on the tree and it makes me happy. I sit in my living room with the tree lit up and it makes me smile! 2020 has taken so much from everyone having a little more joy in life isn't a bad thing.6 -
Christmas is my favorite so never too early for me, lol. I start decorating though the day after thanksgiving. Christmas season goes by in a blink of an eye so I like to make it last as long as possible. I remember as a kid it couldn't come fast enough, now I want it to slow down!2
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AndreaTamira wrote: »Well, Advent kinda starts the season. So, 29th November this year.
I refuse to do anything that is related to Christmas before that point.
But, if you like to start earlier, knock yourself out. Have fun, there isn't enough of that around as is.
Eating my own words, here. There is a small German christmas market in my city in New Zealand next Saturday and I really want to go. ( because I miss my Christmas Markets, and also it's kinda funny in a sad way I will go to one half around the globe while all the ones in Germany are cancelled.)
So, guess the Christmas season is gonna start a day early for me.
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You made me wonder what is going on with the Christkindlmarket that we normally have in Chicago (since I knew it wouldn't be going on in any real sense this year). I checked and there's a virtual version (started on Nov 1, continuing through the end of Dec). Mainly just to encourage people to order from their usual vendors (which I will, now I am aware of it), but also with some virtual activities for kids.1
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X-mas starts Dec 24th. Hold a truce in the Flandrien farmland.2
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Christmas lights are starting here today! Perfect timing. Just when corona numbers are going up, and lockdowns are getting tougher. We have 4 big drive-thru light displays that are an easy drive from me. The one about 2 miles away usually takes me about 3 nights to get all the way through. I haven’t been to The farthest one (20 miles?) in years, but I probably will this year.
I know they will really lift my spirits! And I bet they will be even busier this year than ever!
Christmas may be very different this year, but it can still be good!
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I LOVE Christmas. Anything before the day after Thanksgiving is too early.
Also -- is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
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b120in2021 wrote: »I LOVE Christmas. Anything before the day after Thanksgiving is too early.
Also -- is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
It's not A Christmas movie, it's THE Christmas movie!
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I believe there are only two countries in the world that have thanksgiving, so it irks me when people judge others for starting Christmas before thanksgiving (nobody in this thread, just in general!). Like, why should I wait until after some holiday that some other country celebrates?
For me, as soon as it's the second half of November, Christmas music is fair game. Christmas jumpers are fair game from December 1st. But we don't put up decorations until December 11th in my family. My granny's birthday was December 10th, and she always insisted that no decorations could go up until the next day. And even though she died six years ago, it's a tradition for us, to remember her by.5 -
I've never heard anyone judge people in other countries for not waiting until US Thanksgiving is over. Mostly it's about the fact that US stores play Christmas carols and have all the Christmas stuff out immediately after Halloween.
Interestingly, I've now heard a huge amount of people--both those I know and people on podcasts--saying that normally they hate Christmas stuff starting pre-Thanksgiving (again, we are talking about in the US), but because of 2020 being so awful, everyone gets a pass. (I feel the same way, and am thinking about putting up some stuff tomorrow, although I am not getting the tree until after Thanksgiving--not sure when yet.)1 -
I always feel bad for Thanksgiving. Whenever I'd walk through Target during the holidays, they went straight from Halloween to Christmas, leaving maybe one end cap for Thanksgiving stuff.
It deserves more!4 -
I always feel bad for Thanksgiving. Whenever I'd walk through Target during the holidays, they went straight from Halloween to Christmas, leaving maybe one end cap for Thanksgiving stuff.
It deserves more!
I wish we in the US would switch to a mid-October Thanksgiving like our Canadian neighbors. The weather would be better, and we'd have a longer gap to Christmas.4 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I always feel bad for Thanksgiving. Whenever I'd walk through Target during the holidays, they went straight from Halloween to Christmas, leaving maybe one end cap for Thanksgiving stuff.
It deserves more!
I wish we in the US would switch to a mid-October Thanksgiving like our Canadian neighbors. The weather would be better, and we'd have a longer gap to Christmas.
I've wanted to do a Thanksgiving more like the first Thanksgiving (meaning the one with Pilgrims and American Indians in 1623, I know there were "thanksgiving" type events before and that it was not a yearly holiday until much later) for ages, as I thought it would be fun and different to try to make dishes with that constraint. No one else thought that was a good idea (although my sister thought it was interesting), and so I never did, but this year since it will be tiny, we are doing it (but not being strict in some respects, for example, I don't have flint corn, so we are using sweet corn). Main dish is venison. Because of this I've been researching what was available, and realized that since it was in October, different types of fresh produce would have been available than can actually be harvested in November. October makes more sense in general if one is in a colder climate anyway.
I found this interesting: "From the time of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln, the date of observance varied from state to state. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century, coinciding with, and eventually superseding the holiday of Evacuation Day (commemorating the day the British exited the United States after the Revolutionary War)."
I did know this: "Modern Thanksgiving was proclaimed for all states in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Influenced by Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote letters to politicians for approximately 40 years advocating an official holiday, Lincoln set national Thanksgiving by proclamation for the final Thursday in November, explicitly in celebration of the bounties that had continued to fall on the Union and for the military successes in the war. Because of the ongoing Civil War, a nationwide Thanksgiving celebration was not realized until Reconstruction was completed in the 1870s."3 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I always feel bad for Thanksgiving. Whenever I'd walk through Target during the holidays, they went straight from Halloween to Christmas, leaving maybe one end cap for Thanksgiving stuff.
It deserves more!
I wish we in the US would switch to a mid-October Thanksgiving like our Canadian neighbors. The weather would be better, and we'd have a longer gap to Christmas.
I've wanted to do a Thanksgiving more like the first Thanksgiving (meaning the one with Pilgrims and American Indians in 1623, I know there were "thanksgiving" type events before and that it was not a yearly holiday until much later) for ages, as I thought it would be fun and different to try to make dishes with that constraint. No one else thought that was a good idea (although my sister thought it was interesting), and so I never did, but this year since it will be tiny, we are doing it (but not being strict in some respects, for example, I don't have flint corn, so we are using sweet corn). Main dish is venison. Because of this I've been researching what was available, and realized that since it was in October, different types of fresh produce would have been available than can actually be harvested in November. October makes more sense in general if one is in a colder climate anyway.
I found this interesting: "From the time of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln, the date of observance varied from state to state. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century, coinciding with, and eventually superseding the holiday of Evacuation Day (commemorating the day the British exited the United States after the Revolutionary War)."
I did know this: "Modern Thanksgiving was proclaimed for all states in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Influenced by Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote letters to politicians for approximately 40 years advocating an official holiday, Lincoln set national Thanksgiving by proclamation for the final Thursday in November, explicitly in celebration of the bounties that had continued to fall on the Union and for the military successes in the war. Because of the ongoing Civil War, a nationwide Thanksgiving celebration was not realized until Reconstruction was completed in the 1870s."
If you want it to be SUPER-authentic, you'll introduce a deadly disease to people who have no immunity to it....
Oh....wait.....
Sorry....dark humor is my jam today.5 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I always feel bad for Thanksgiving. Whenever I'd walk through Target during the holidays, they went straight from Halloween to Christmas, leaving maybe one end cap for Thanksgiving stuff.
It deserves more!
I wish we in the US would switch to a mid-October Thanksgiving like our Canadian neighbors. The weather would be better, and we'd have a longer gap to Christmas.
I've wanted to do a Thanksgiving more like the first Thanksgiving (meaning the one with Pilgrims and American Indians in 1623, I know there were "thanksgiving" type events before and that it was not a yearly holiday until much later) for ages, as I thought it would be fun and different to try to make dishes with that constraint. No one else thought that was a good idea (although my sister thought it was interesting), and so I never did, but this year since it will be tiny, we are doing it (but not being strict in some respects, for example, I don't have flint corn, so we are using sweet corn). Main dish is venison. Because of this I've been researching what was available, and realized that since it was in October, different types of fresh produce would have been available than can actually be harvested in November. October makes more sense in general if one is in a colder climate anyway.
I found this interesting: "From the time of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln, the date of observance varied from state to state. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century, coinciding with, and eventually superseding the holiday of Evacuation Day (commemorating the day the British exited the United States after the Revolutionary War)."
I did know this: "Modern Thanksgiving was proclaimed for all states in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Influenced by Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote letters to politicians for approximately 40 years advocating an official holiday, Lincoln set national Thanksgiving by proclamation for the final Thursday in November, explicitly in celebration of the bounties that had continued to fall on the Union and for the military successes in the war. Because of the ongoing Civil War, a nationwide Thanksgiving celebration was not realized until Reconstruction was completed in the 1870s."
If you want it to be SUPER-authentic, you'll introduce a deadly disease to people who have no immunity to it....
Oh....wait.....
Sorry....dark humor is my jam today.
Okay, big gathering back on!3 -
Took advantage of warm dry weather to put up some outdoor lights this week - but won't turn them on until December. That's also when the harvest wreaths and mailbox garlands will be switched for the Christmas version.
I'm more of a Halloween person and I have a much beloved miniature Halloween village displayed in a glass-faced bookcase 365 a year. So do what makes you happy!3 -
I also switch up a harvest wreath for a Christmas one, but I'm having the Christmas one delivered tomorrow, so may go ahead and put it up. I also have some Christmassy hanging baskets that I will put up on my front porch (the flowers that were in the ones currently up are dead, so they need to go).
I hate the chore of putting up outdoor lights, but if not for that I'd have them up at least as of the time change, as I see them as as much about it being dark way too early and adding some counter to that as Christmas. Last year I didn't get the lights up until mid December, but I'll try to do it this weekend this year.1 -
You be you, baby! Several friends have already decorated because it lifts their mood. Me? The tree may not even go up this year because I don't want the drama3
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My husband bought me an olympic bar for Christmas and I have started using it already since the gyms are closed. We had planned to be away for Christmas but that may now be scuppered. May still not decorate as I hate going into the loft to get the decorations.1
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Getting in the spirit every day.1
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »If starting Christmas early makes you happy, then you should do it.
For me, in a normal year, it has to be after Thanksgiving...usually I put up the tree the first week of December.
This year, everything Christmas is going to depress me, because I know I won't be able to see all my family and celebrate like we usually do. I'm not doing well with the "everything is normal" crowd.
I'm really sorry for my comments above because I see now how they sounded. I absolutely understand your feelings - I am very sad about not being able to see my family in person this year. One of the ways I manage my anxiety is to adopt a "fake it til you make it" attitude about some things, I know it can be grating. I wasn't being thoughtful when I typed that above.
Please don't feel sorry, I know exactly what you meant. We're all dealing with this in different ways, and I get the mindset of keeping at least the appearance of a positive attitude. I wish it worked for me, and I certainly don't blame you if it works for you. I should probably stop going into these holiday threads.
I'm just more stressed than usual today, for....reasons.
This is me this year:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10789131/coronavirus-memes/p653 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »I still have my Halloween decorations up... welcome to 2020 :laugh:
My OH's mother kept the Halloween/Fall/Thanksgiving decorations in the same box, so Halloween is still up. I'll take them down when I do Christmas, which I do not do until after US Thanksgiving.
Earlier this week I saw some residential outdoor Christmas lights up already, which surprised me - here in Massachusetts people usually wait until Thanksgiving weekend to do that.
But I get the impulse to be earlier this year. Also, with high unemployment, more people have time. On my street my neighbors have done way more general home improvement projects than normal.1
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