I’m with you op! I absolute love Christmas and enjoy approximately four full days of festivities every year but I don’t put my tree up and decorate until the 19th and we actually celebrate from about 24th to 29th.
I think it dilutes and diminishes the excitement of it when the decorations are put up too early and taken down too soon.
Tbh though, I think it’s fine if it’s just about decorations … each to their own… I find indulgence in what I call the “cult” of Christmas far more worrying!
This is going to sound rude which is not my intention, and each to their own, but if I am being honest, I think this current unhealthy obsession with Christmas that has developed over the last five years, as evident on the pages of Mumsnet, where people think about it all year around and obsess about every detail, is driven by a combination of relentless commercial pressure combined with a lack of “substance” or balance in people’s lives.
I’ve noticed that , not all, but some people tend to obsess about Christmas as a diversion away from some sort of unhappiness in their lives or to compensate for unfulfilling or unsatisfactory or absent human relationships.
You see the same thing in people who obsess over their pets to an unhealthy degree. Now I adore my animals but I don’t adore them to the extent that they prevent me having happy relationships and friendships with other humans.
The same imbalance is seen in obsessive house cleaners or obsessive hoarders. It’s all a distraction from some sort of pain or an inability to face life’s realities.
<stands back and waits for flame throwers 😁>
Disclaimer: I don’t mean any of this in an unkind way!