Christmas Tree and decorations up already? Please tell me why

[Liltzero]

Out and about the last 2 evenings I've noticed a few Christmas trees already up and decorated. We've not even had Advent Sunday yet!

With a DS with a December birthday we always put the tree up in the middle of the month after his birthday. In any case, any earlier and the novelty will have worn off for me by the 25th.

Interested to hear from mumsnetters who have their tree already decorated. Thank you.

Mine will probably go up this week (if I ever get round to adeep clean). It sounds made up but we had 4 family bereavements in November over the years and for the longest time I just associated advent as “the first Christmas without grandad/dad/uncle” so a bit crap. When ds came along it was the first year my mum had a tree since my dad died so it honestly feels like happy times after sad times. I don’t intellectualise it that way generally but you did ask.
Also you have to write the cards and find the advent calendar which means finding them in amongst the decorations and I’m not putting it away once I’ve hauled it all out.

Ours went up today - well we have started, it usually takes close to a week to get them all up. We are not zany, we are not attention seeking and they won't come down on Boxing Day (the 2nd at the earliest but I will keep them up for as long as DH lets me).

We put them up because we love them, we enjoy the lights, the smells, snuggling under blankets with a glass of mulled wine and we like all that for more than a week or two.

Why does it bother other people so much? What we do doesn't really effect you, if you pass my house and see our decorations it will be seconds out if your day then you can go back to your own home and forget about us enjoying our festive home!

My female housemate has decorated the kitchen/dining room. I know she's lived here the longest, and it's her home too, but it's pissed me right off. I loathe Christmas and it's only freaking November! I've still got my Halloween decorations up in my room... I'm eking out that for all it's worth!

We're having our Christmas get-together tomorrow (only date 20-odd people could all make) and it seemed wrong not to have the Christmas decs up for a Christmas party!! This is our earliest ever; normally it's first weekend in Dec (or last few days of Nov if I we can't bear to wait.

Lol at “ been to the pants”!
I have an early December birthday so we usually put the tree up on that day & take it down on 12th night.

The people I see displaying the most enthusiasm for premature Christmas preparations are inevitably fed up of the whole thing long before New Year. I would be less bothered if they actually sustained their enthusiasm for the whole course of Christmas rather than burning themselves out weeks before it arrives.

I prefer keeping things to their proper season. I try to avoid doing Christmassy things before advent, and enjoy a gentle build up within December, then the actual Christmas period into New Year until about the 6th and the return to school.

January is a long, bleak, depressing month, and keeping things festive for most of the first week helps to make it feel that little bit shorter and more managable.

I have seen decorations up locally already. Given that the 1st is a Saturday, it's not like doing it in the last few days of November (which can be advent according to the church seasons) or nearly a week into December. It's also been an unusually lovely November, and has only gone unpleasantly Novembery this week, so we haven't even battled weeks (or months) of gloom and SAD yet either. I've found it a pleasant shock that December is approaching so soon.

I'll admit to having been slightly judgey about putting decorations up early until I read an article by someone who had been homeless. She was given some fairly grim temporary housing near to Christmas but got some cheap decorations and a tree from a charity shop which lifted her spirits and made it bearable. Years later when she had her own home she put her decorations up shortly after Bonfire night as she was just so grateful to be able to do it. I can't do the link on my phone but I'll try and do it tomorrow, it certainly made me think.

I hope this works, it's worth a read and made me think.

Why I Always Put My Christmas Tree Up in November.

medium.com/@KirstyStricklan/why-i-always-put-my-christmas-tree-up-in-november-4af0c21961fd

Try this.

Putting mine up today because I love Christmas and can't wait

Any time before 1st December is wrong imo and you risk spoiling the magic by peaking too soon. I’ve got people in my FB who’ve put up they’re decorations this weekend and there are no exceptional circumstances which might mitigate such daftness they’re just show offs.

I prefer to put them up quite close to Christmas and then they stay up until 12th night. I wouldn't put decorations up before Advent, I'd be sick of them by mid-December and the tree would probably be bald by then!

no exceptional circumstances which might mitigate such daftness they’re just show offs.
You didn't read the link then to understand why some people might feel differently. Not necessarily because they have been homeless but maybe just celebrating a home and family of their own and the freedom to do what they like. I'll probably put mine up a week or two before Christmas but that's my choice.

Fwiw I love Christmas it’s my favourite time of year but half the excitement is the wait.

It totally puzzles me too. I don’t care when people do it, but it must surely dampen the excitement of Christmas to have all the paraphernalia around sooo long in advance.

The dc are super excited and desperate to put the decs up. We're free today but busy for the next two weekends running so it's either today or 16th Dec! They can't wait that long so we're doing it today!

Once the dc are older, I'm sure we won't do it this early but they're 6 and 4, which are magical ages. We're just going with it!

I did read the link and the people I am talking about do not have similar exceptional circumstances to those the link talks about. Did you read my post?

Why is it showing off to put your tree up? Everyone will be doing it soon.

How does having a tree up kill the excitement? Again, the excitement is building up to Christmas day. If having a tree up could put a stop to the magic of Christmas day, no one would have trees up at all.

Some people just enjoy having their tree up because it looks nice. Nothing to do with the excitement or spoiling things. It enhances them for me.

Why is it showing off to put your tree up? confused Everyone will be doing it soon.
Because doing it abnormally early is ‘look at me look at me I’m doing Xmas before you aren’t I great’

Apologies, then, I read that sentence as making two separate points. Even so, it does no one else any harm.

Haha! No it's not - no one will even see my tree other than my household, so there's no one else to look at it 😂 What a bizarre statement.

We put ours up on Thursday, because it's the only time between now and the 28th December that we would all have a day at home with my DH.

He works a lot. Xmas eve, Xmas day and Boxing Day included.

The odd Days off between now and then will be taken up with food shopping or trips out doing Xmas things with DD.

Because doing it abnormally early is ‘look at me look at me I’m doing Xmas before you aren’t I great’

Literally not at all!! I'm doing mine for my dc, nobody else! What a ridiculous assumption.

mrsjane I suspect you will not have taken to FB and plastered your efforts all over it like the people I know then.

@gamerwidow no one else apart from the occasional visit from a sibling or mum will probably coming to my house now before Christmas so I'm certainly not saying 'look at me, look at me' because our Christmas tree is up!

Why be so judgemental?