Festive traditions and when to put the decs up

[Lottiefranks]

I’d love to know when everyone puts their tree/christmas decs up. I love, LOVE Christmas and I’m thinking to put my tree up around the 21st November.

I’d also love to know what your family traditions are that differ from the ‘norm’ my children are 2 and 4, so any suggestions for simple traditions they may enjoy would be great. We have a couple already, such as a Christmas Eve walk, 1st of December box which I put their advents, Christmas jumpers and some crafts in.

What’s everyone’s festive plans? X

I won't put Christmas decs up until mid December or everything feels tired and an anticlimax by Christmas Eve. We're just sick of it by then. The joy of Christmas is the anticipation - but you can't keep that going for too long. Also, we always have a real tree and it would be a sad brown twig by Christmas Day if we put it up more than about 10 days before hand. 21st Nov feels way too early - you've got to keep the excitement and anticipation going for about 5 or 6 weeks!

My advice with such young children is to keep things very low key and ignore social media stuff - otherwise you'll find yourself getting dafter and dafter each year trying to make it bigger and better than the year before. One of the things we did was I read 'King John's Christmas' by A A Milne every year at bedtime on Christmas Eve, which is lovely and funny.

And small kids can't cope with over the top hyping. Keep it nice and simple.

We put the tree up on the 30th November so the house is decorated when the kids open their advent calendar on the first - they’re both autistic with learning difficulties so we try and keep the association there. I’ve never done a 1st December box but we do a Christmas Eve one with new pjs, matey bubble bath and a bath bomb plus some craft things like sticker books to keep them occupied on the day. We try and get a walk in on Xmas day but can’t really plan much as depends on how the kids are at the time

Christmas creeps through my house it is not an all at once event. 1st December is the door wreath, Christmas themed door mat and reusable advent calendar. The tree goes up around 7th along with lounge decorations.

Then hall and dining room are a week later so from about the 14th. This includes Christmas tablecloth, placemats as well as decorations. The staircase gets its garland. This is also when the outside lights go up.

We have a separate table cloth etc for Christmas eve which makes it feel different.

Our Christmas decorations go up last weekend in November/first weekend in December. When my sons were small we used to walk or drive around the streets looking at everyone's Christmas lights. Sometimes a trip to the garden centre/DIY shop for a look. B and q used to have a lovely Christmas section 😁

My personal "rule" is 1st December or Advent Sunday, whichever comes first. This year, Advent Sunday is 29 November, so that's the earliest my decs will go up.

I find it quite a faff getting everything down from the loft etc so I want it up for as long as possible, although I draw the line at leaving them up until Candlemas in February. Twelfth Night is enough.

The one time I broke the rule was when we went away late November and early December. I knew I wouldn't feel like doing everything when I got back, so did it beforehand.

Mid December for our tree as we go for a real one, beginning of December for a few Christmas bits. Our neighbours have lights and an inflatable father Christmas up today!

November? Fuck that.

I love the nights drawing in, the cooler weather, the starlings flocking (I can hear them now, settling in the trees), the smell of roast chestnuts. That's the pre-Christmas anticipation that I start enjoying.

Tree goes up on the 8th December, or around there (possibly weekend of 12-13 this year), they stay up until after King's (we're in Spain, it's still festive as fuck here until then). 5-6-7-8 is a long weekend hurrah! We'll be going away, decs go up then.

Our advent calendar holds a joke, a note of how much we love DC/how proud we are they did X/Y/Z this year, or a silly note from the dog.

We used to visit one Santa when they were little, now we visit one Xmas market, go to the next town over to see their lights and have ice cream, I'll take them shopping for DH, he'll take them to get me something. Christmas day is:
Stockings on our bed
Pancake breakfast, fresh OJ and good coffee
Walk the dog
Back to open tree gifts
Homemade soup and bread for lunch (and whatever Xmas chocolates were gifted!)
Afternoon visit to a local beach which has a fantastic sand Nativity every year, in different styles. We'd take new scooters, bikes, remote controlled toys etc out when we went, they're much older now.
Home for about 6pm and wed cook dinner (not a traditional British roast).
Play games together, watch a film, bed.

Boxing day we entertain or go to a friend's house. 31st is with friends, we alternate who's house every year, good food, games galore, 12 grapes at midnight,brolly into bed around 2am, even when the DC were small!! NYDay is eating leftovers, walking the dog, hot chocolate, films, etc.

5th in the evening we go out yo watch the 3 kings parade, they chuck sweets into the crowds, it's great fun. Home for a big plate of prawns, sopa de galets (giant pasta shells stuffed with meat, floating in broth with morcilla). 8th January back to school.

We had DC pre-elf on the shelf and I'm DH and I are Gen X, so I don't give a fuck about instagram or going to as many Xmas things as possible to take photos and put on social media. You do you. We've kept things simple but joyous - the house is very much CHRISTMAS in every room and the food we eat is festive for us.

I also love Christmas!! I am so excited to get on the Christmas preparations; shopping, cooking, Christmas movies etc.

But I am not putting decorations up until as late as I possibly can. I get so tired of looking at them by New Year.

We put our tree up on 1st Dec - we always get a real one and it always seems to last. (Comes down on NYD).

Mine are teenagers now but when they were small we used to walk around the neighbourhood looking at the lights which they loved. Also a homemade advent calendar and Christmas Eve treasure hunt. The treasure was a box with PJs, Christmas spoon (for hot chocolate), a book and sweets).

Something a bit different that they loved when they were small was when we took our dog to meet ‘Santa Paws’ at the local garden centre. They loved having a photo with him and seeing our dog get a little gift.

I try to do all my Christmas shopping in November, but all music/decorations etc are saved for December. We put up a real tree on the 1st. It always stays fine until we take it down in early Jan.

I blame instagram and people putting their tree up to sell you crap and make “content”.

We put ours up about the third weekend in December. I love Christmas but I want it at Christmas not for two months.

I put mine up much later because I like to
leave them up as long as possible - January is a much harder month than December

and I don’t like to see them up before advent starts

A few bits creep in early December then the tree and main decorations go up around the 10th. We get a real tree and decs stay up until 2nd/3rd Jan.

Social media has definitely encouraged early christmas everything, no-one was putting their tree up in November 10+ years ago.

I standardly put decorations up on the last day of term, as none of us could cope with education plus Christmas. Then they stay up until day before term.

Now it will be 18-21st up and 2nd-6th down.

A few days before Christmas Day. And they stay up until February.

We buy the tree on second Saturday in December. It comes down on new years day.

I put my stuff up around the 10th of December. I love the lead up to Christmas but once it's over I can't be bothered with any of it, so take everything down about the 28th.

Our tree goes up on the last weekend of November. I like it to be decorated for when the christmas boxes come out on the 1st (advent calenders, pjs, jumpers and christmas teddies).

We always go for a walk to the nearby garden centre and choose a bauble each on tree up day. Then watch muppets christmas carol with popcorn once it's all up.

I love Christmas, but to me it's special because it's short. We have a real tree and I like it to still look decent on Christmas so it generally goes up around the 10th. Our outdoor lights will be done earlier this year because our village has a tradition of a walking advent calendar, houses volunteer to light a Christmas window on a particular day, then keep it lit every night until Christmas so by the end you can walk around all 24 of them. Anyway we are the 2nd of December so should figured he'll put our outdoor lights up ready to light them at the same time as our advent window. You usually get about 20 people and we'll do mulled wine/hot chocolate and mince pies for them all. We always go on a polar express type railway and to carols by candlelight on Christmas eve too.

We always used to aim to get the tree and decs up on 1st December but sometimes life got in the way and it was nearer mid December but they always came down on 6th December. Christmas Eve boxes and Elf on the Shelf weren't a thing when my son was a child, thank god. Just another thing to worry about and spend money on. But he always had an advent calendar and usually a trip to see Santa at a garden centre or church hall type thing. We sometimes went to the Panto too money permitting. Then obviously presents on Christmas morning and a traditional groaning lunch with maybe a board game later. On Boxing Day we'd go for a walk. And that was about it really. Simpler times.

We put the tree up on or as near as possible to Dec 1st. The reason it isn't a set date is that friends and family join us to make an event out of it. We see December as a bit of a festival month with lots of special meet ups. We have friends over night for Christmas, watch a film. We go for a walk on Christmas and NY days. Then from Jan 2nd, it's a big quiet reset, like a winding down of December's festivities. By Feb, life is normal, but the focus is on winter traditions before spring. I love it. Dec 1st is the start of the whole winter tradition for me.

The tree goes up on the first Saturday in December, or the following Saturday if we're busy. Adult dd insists on coming round and taking over helping me, even though she's been in her own home for a while now.😂I do the rest of the decorations bit by bit for a week or two after that, depending on how much I can be bothered.

@Lottiefranks Re annual traditions - how about adding a visit to a Christmas Tree festival at a local church? Usually free as well.

Mine’s not before December. I used to be much later than that. I always have a real tree and it’s always still good by the big day.

We never put tree up before the first weekend of December and even then only if we've time. We would all be sick of the sight of it any earlier.
Our traditions are changing now the kids are teens and pre teens - no more Santa visits looking at light trails instead. We always do lunch in village pub on Xmas eve

Our tree goes up 1st weekend in December as we have my birthday, my mums birthday and my MILs birthday beforehand. As for traditions, they get advent calanders, new Xmas eve pj's (non xmassy), we enjoy going to the cinema (going the 19th Dec to see Doomsday 🙌) and since last year we have our Xmas dinner on Xmas eve. Xmas day is a slow morning, get up when we want, open presents and stockings, eat whatever we want all day, usually a spread and MIL comes round on the afternoon as well 🙂