We take out the Christmas themed books, DVDs, and plastic plate, glass and bowl, DD's Christmas fleece blanket, her Advent calendar (fabric one that Nanna made for her first Advent) and a couple of festive tea towels on 1st December. I keep saying I'm going to do an advent wreath as well, and never get the time. But that keeps us going until the rest of the decorations come out whatever weekend we have enough free time. The only Christmas book that doesn't come out is TTNBC, which is kept for Christmas Eve.
I also have a list of different things to do, mostly for smaller DCs, that can be handy to have festive ideas to put into an advent calendar rather than just chocolates, or to use at times when they are driving you to distraction, or just to have ideas for things to do in the run up to Christmas. I'll stick that in a separate post as it is quite long. But the whole idea is NOT that you do everything - not in 1 year, and possibly not even ever - but having a range of things that suit more active and more quiet times, in the home and outside the home, things that can be linked together (e.g. nature walk to see the woods in winter, picking up leaves, sticks or pine cones etc, and using those bits of nature for a craft project another day for a decoration or to make presents), or that are once off.
And yes, think about how Christmas functions in your immediate family, and the extended family, and whether that will likely change as well in the next few years. Do you stay in your own house, or do you have to travel to stay with others (to sleep, or even just for the daytime)? Are there loads of DCs, and what do all the different sets of DParents (and even DGrandparents!) say about Santa/Elves/other festive stuff? Is there an expectation that you will do things together on Christmas Eve, or will you be alone at home that day? How might the answers to those questions impact on how you want to do Advent, Christmas Eve boxes, stockings, presents, Christmas Day etc?
Anyway, some things on my list can be done from before a DC turns 1, and continue for many years, while others need to wait a while.
A nice one from our house is baking. DD "baked" Christmas cookies every year for crèche from her 1st Christmas (aged 364 days) - year 1 was mixing the eggs, helping to spoon out ingredients to weigh them, spooning flour into the batter, and having a small handful of batter that she rolled and cut (that tray was specifically kept for home consumption!) - while I did most of the most of the actual work. The next year, she was better able to roll and cut some shapes. The next year, she could crack the eggs and do some mixing of the dough. Last year (6th class, aged almost 12), I got a phonecall one afternoon asking if she could bake for the class, and came home to a bit of a mess but some effort at tidying made, and a nice batch of chocolate chip cookies sitting in a box for school. (We also cooked and baked together other times - a child sized apron, set of steps to let her stand at the counter, and a small sized wooden spoon and rolling pin, were all great investments!).