When does Christmas 'proper' start, in your opinion?

[ruethewhirl]

Just curious about this as I've noticed it's becoming more and more of a thing for people to say Christmas is over right after Boxing Day and to take their decs down round about that time too.

The reason I'm curious is just that it differs so much from how I remember Christmases as a child in the 1970s. I'm in my 50s and although there was always a build-up to Christmas it never used to start anywhere near as early. The adverts might have been pushing Christmas from about October or November, but in terms of decorations going up, Christmas music being played, etc - not so much until we got into December. I also feel like there was more of a distinction between Advent and Christmas itself back then (despite the plethora of advent calendars around today! 😄)

These days far more people seem to start saying 'it's Christmas' as soon as it gets to December, and consider it to be over and done with by Boxing Day. When I was a child it was advent until Christmas Eve, and then the Christmas period pretty much lasted until Jan 6th, encompassing New Year's as part and parcel of the season, with many/most people leaving their decs up till then. And to this day, the period from Christmas Eve onwards is my favourite bit, because all the stressy preps are over and it's time to just relax and enjoy the festive season. For this reason I'd never take my decs down before Twelfth Night, as old-fashioned as that probably makes me. 😅

None of this is being said in criticism of current traditions, btw - I know times change, and people should celebrate Christmas exactly however they want to, or not at all if that's their preference. I just find it an interesting phenomenon how the dates seem to have shifted so to speak, also curious to know if others around my age remember 'bygone' Christmases the same way I do. (Oh crikey, I said 'bygone', next step's a rocking chair I guess. 😅)

Thoughts?

I’m mid-sixties.
When I was a child we had a sort of ‘advent’ feel in the house from two weeks before Christmas (when the decorations - lots of fresh holly, real tree etc- went up) to Christmas Eve.

Christmas proper started on Christmas Eve and lasted til around 2 January.

Now my ‘advent’ feel in the house runs from December 1 (when the decorations go up) to Christmas Eve, which as before is Christmas proper until 2 January.

The only year I took the decorations down the day after Boxing Day was the year my husband went partying on Christmas Eve after work with the woman to whom he is now married. I remember getting the children to bed by myself on Christmas Eve and hauling their bicycles down from the roof space by myself so at least Santa wouldn’t let them down.

After that Christmas hurt for a long time but now that’s just a memory and I enjoy Christmas again.

I put out my Advent candles on the first Sunday of Advent. After that, the tree goes up just over a week before Christmas, depending on when I can get out to buy one (fresh). I do all the decorations the day I decorate the tree, normally a few days after it gets situated in its stand, to allow the branches to open up.

It all stays up until Twelfth Night, though the local tree collection has been known to take place a day or two before then, so it's a case of whichever comes first.

I'd say the festive spirit is over and done with by the 2nd January. I'm usually back at work by the 27th, depending on the day of the week

Behind the scenes I start buying about September unless I see something earlier that really makes sense to buy and put away .

I do a Dec 1st Box for my DC (now adults )
I don;t want to be trudging round the shops in late or even mid December with bags and boxes trying to find things or queue .

Some things go out on December 1st like hand towels , Christmas soap , loo roll , dishtowels , paper straws , festive bedding , Christmas cushions all things we'd use anyway so might as well be Christmassey . They get stored for next year ,
No decorations till 10 days before (or nearest weekend to this ) as my DS birthday is December .
No tree as the Cats are little vandals .

We plan days out , a shopping trip for DD and I , a Traditional Day Out for DH and me end November
The lead up starts with this and builds .

Decorations come down on Jan 1st and put away .

I've never heard of Xmas over by boxing day except for some on here and an odd ball in our nct group dh bday was on boxing day and apparently this grown man had to have his Dec's down for his bday??

For us two weeks before Xmas we do our Dec's and we take them down when feel like it

I seem to be noticing decs are coming down sooner after Christmas Day round my way than they used to, which is a pity as I enjoy seeing other people's trees in their windows. 🎄

It starts when work/school finishes up - usually 18-20th, and finishes around Jan 3rd. Tree goes up in early to mid December but is down again before the New Year.

Advent starts on the first of December, proper Christmas starts when the schools break up!

Starts Christmas Eve and ends new years day in my house with work messing up the middle.

I usually decorate when the school holidays start. I take it down around the 30th as I like a clean house for Hogmanay.

I put the Christmas decorations up in the first weekend in Dec and take them down again the first weekend in Jan.

This thread is helping me strengthen my resolve to get the cards/presents organised before December starts. I never seem to quite manage this, and then every year I'm left kicking myself because I'm too stressed to properly immerse myself in the festive spirit. Especially as I hand-make cards for nearest and dearest and typically don't even get round to that till December. 😄 Determined to start earlier this year and enjoy the build-up more!

Fake tree and decs going up Dec 1st. We buy a real tree for our conservatory 2 weeks before Christmas Day so it lasts throughout the festive season. Tbh our conservatory is so cold the tree lasts well into January, and stays up and decorated till it starts to look bedraggled. I get such a warm glow inside from looking at Christmas decs that I'm never in any hurry to get rid. I tend to take the very overtly Christmassy things like Santas off after twelfth night, but leave most of it intact.

Advent starts on Advent Sunday

Advent calendars and candles start on 1 December

Christmas approaches, Advent gets more and more Christmassy, culminating on Christmas Eve.

Then Christmas proper begins on Christmas Day and continues until Twelfth Night

I try to have the majority of my Christmas shopping and planning done by the 1st of December. On the 1st December the festive period begins with outings and meals. I'll put up the tree mid December and take it down the day the kids return to school (7th this year).

Christmas for us starts when the schools break up and we are together as a family.

It ends on Jan 4th or 5th when schools go back.

I put my decs up first weekend in December and bring them down on Jan 2nd. It definitely couldn't bring them down before New Year - New Year jollity is an extension of Christmas, surely?

Christmas starts on Christmas Eve in our house. We don't start eating the Christmas treats until then. I do put the tree up at the beginning of December, but it's not Christmas until Christmas Eve.

We don't do much for New Years these days but I've got nice memories of celebrating it and couldn't imagine taking down decorations before then.

Maybe it's because I'm not the most tidy person in the world but all that going fresh into New Year or appreciating having the house back after the decorations come down doesn't apply to me.

1st December sometimes the weekend before if Dec 1st falls on a Thursday. We start Christmas movies and Christmas outings. Family board game nights and the decorations are up. I take my decs down depending on when I have to return to work after Christmas. Usually 28th/29th I like to clean through and come home from work to a clean, uncluttered house x

I’m in New Zealand and that impacts things. It’s the end of the school year and a lot of various celebrations are combined Christmas/end of year, especially in primary schools and hobbies/clubs. So it all kicks off in mid-late November.

We aim to decorate on the first weekend in December but inevitably will be at an end of year dance show that weekend, so it will probably be the weekend after.

I don’t have a set day for taking down decorations but I like them to be down before New Years, so that the house feels clear and fresh for summer and the new year. Also most people head away on their summer holidays, and no-one wants to come back in mid-January to all the decorations still up. (Once I saw through someone’s window that their tree was still up on 31 January … bit of a giveaway that no-one is home!)

Christmas started in December for me as a child (1980s), as that’s when we started doing Christmassy things at school - singing carols in assembly, making decorations, planning for the Christmas party etc. it’s the same now for me. I start to feel Christmassy from 1st December onwards.

I take my decorations down and forget about Christmas from New Years Day nowadays. As a child it was 5th January, which even then I found depressing and like it was dragging on.

I should have said, first weekend in November, we have a tradition that we get Starbucks Christmas drinks and do a photo shoot by the mall Christmas tree! The tree is outdoors and the weather at that time of year can range from high summer to winter darkness so the photos are always different!

The Christmas period in my house is... 1st December to the 3rd-7th of January. (Depending on what day of the week the 3rd falls on.)

So this year, as New Year's Day is on a Wednesday, the 'Christmas and New year period' will end on Sunday 5th January. (For us.) Last year New Year's Day was on a Monday, so the Christmas period ended on Sunday the 7th January. If New Year's Day was on a Saturday, the Christmas period would end on Tuesday 4th January. Because the Monday 3rd would be a Bank Holiday.

I've saddled 2 of my children with birthdays in the first week of January, so I take the decorations down by the 1st usually. I quite like that as an excuse because I see the new year as a new start.

Christmas starts when the kids finish school and I end work. I like advent though and use that as an opportunity to start on the mince pies and have advent calendars and the Elf. My tree doesn't go up until Mid Dec. And we start to go to Christmassy events after the middle of December.

I don't do anything until December starts apart from make the cake.

I don't remember Christmas starting as early as it does now when I grew up in the 70s and 80s.

It's not Christmas until a strike is announced to start a day before we finish work (well, work that is actually in the building) and Network Rail start closing lines to make it impossible to travel to see DP's family for yet another year.

It's been 11 years now. And we only got back that time by the skin of our teeth after 7 hours travelling a three hour route and walking miles.

I've saddled 2 of my children with birthdays in the first week of January, so I take the decorations down by the 1st usually

Yes, I think timings of birthdays can be an important factor. We're the other way round. There are two in my family in late-mid December, so we never decorate the house until after those. Then keep going until Twelfth Night, because I don't want to lop off the last bit of traditional Christmastide.