Christmas in October? Why YES, yes it is appropriate!

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I know, I know, I know….People generally dislike seeing Christmas decorations before Halloween….I totally get it, I promise I do.

The sight of Christmas trees and holiday decorations right now, probably creates a pit in some stomachs. I can hear the chorus of ughs!

American Thanksgiving hasn’t even occurred yet for god’s sake! It can also be a time of hardship for some, which I understand and empathize with as well. My sister is one of those people.

It can be stressful, but I find a huge amount of joy in the holiday. The tree and it’s twinkling lights bring a feeling of warmth to our home, and I love that!

“Psychologists Confirm People Who Decorate For Christmas Early Are Happier, So Now You Have Justification”. Article by Murphy Moroney. I must receive a link to this article no less than 10 times a year from friends!

People have come to expect the yearly obligatory Facebook post with a picture of the tree. So, I’m sharing the same joy here in the Blogosphere!

With this in mind, every year in October – usually the last weekend in October, I put up the Christmas tree. It’s up a little earlier this year for various reasons. A sad death in the family has created an urgent need inside of me to get this up sooner.

I know, it sounds nuts! But……

Traveling for work keeps me away from home Monday to Thursday. The way I calculate things, if I put my tree up NOW, I will be able to enjoy just as much or more as someone who waits until Thanksgiving and doesn’t travel for work!

When I come home from a stressful week, one of my favorite things is to sit in front of the lit tree in my flannel pajamas, with a good glass of wine and my sweetie and pup sitting next to me.

The neighbors will hate this, so I’ll be sure I close the blinds for at least a week. The only issue is for the people behind us, those blinds broke a few months ago, so they’ll be stuck looking at our tree. (sorry sweet neighbors!)

Not sure how to hide it from the trick-or-treaters next week, but so be it. They are all getting some good chocolate, so what do they care? haha.

Here is a snap of our tree and the elves who helped decorate it! The one thing I can promise is we will not put up outdoor Christmas lights until Thanksgiving….I wont say Merry Christmas now, but maybe, just Merry Pre-Christmas or Pre-Happy Holidays…whatever your preference is!

Also, I am always yelling at friends when we take group photos – people are always talking, moving, closing their eyes…..It took many takes to get the perfect photo, but thought I would share the worst one where SEAN, YOGI AND I are the culprits. haha. Not my finest work, but it makes me laugh when I look at it.

Cheers,

i choose this,

Pam

PS. The tree stays up until the end of February :-). Don’t be a hater!!

50 comments

  1. I see nothing wrong with decorating for Christmas when it suits your fancy. Or not decorating for Christmas at all if that’s your thing. As long as you like seeing what you’re seeing then why not? Our lives are filled with too many arbitrary rules as it is, Christmas decorating need not be another one as far as I’m concerend.

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  2. You are too funny! I get annoyed by Christmas stuff in stores this early, but I really do love having a tree up for the same reasons you do. I usually wait until after Thanksgiving, but I might just allow myself to squeeze a few extra weeks out of it now that you’ve made some excellent points!

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    1. I thought FOR SURE, you were gonna give me a hard time over this one! haha I was reminded last night that the time before Thanksgiving and Xmas this year is shorter than normal – yet another reason to get it up sooner. 🙂

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          1. I think in this case that’s definitely right. This bike felt like a part of me. I sort of feel bad about buying Eli the lower model when we got him a bike at the start of the summer, but we had no idea this mountain bike thing was going to happen… and then suck him in. He can’t wait to use my bike in races next year.

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  3. And to think, I was feeling guilty because we are the first among our friends and family to get our Christmas cards out. We may not decorate in October, but we are seriously in need of a third Christmas tree – two are not enough.

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  4. We used to follow the tradition of putting tree up 12days before Christmas and taking it down 12 days after but I have relented and we now put it up on the 1st of December but still take it down on twelfth night. I must confess I do always enjoy seeing the Christmas decorations come out in the stores and it always makes me smile.
    By accident we started a family tradition of giving each other a small Christmas decoration as a gift on the night we put up the tree, to this day it is still my daughters favourite part of Christmas and one year she and my husband gave me a small wooden box with a little glass teddy bear in a santa hat and told me it was Christmas in a box, to be opened whenever you felt the need for a little Christmas cheer in your life no mater what time of the year it was.

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    1. OMG Sharon. I need to find Christmas in a box! What a great and happy idea! Glad you see the joy in Christmas as well. I also love the tradition of the Christmas decoration gift exchange…I may have to start that with friends this year. hmmm…the wheels are turning. Thanks for the pile of inspirational ideas :-).

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      1. Wow! I keep seeing pictures of Colorado and Montana under the snow already and I marvel at it! Absolutely none here (obviously, in Paris it is so rare; but I haven’t heard any mention of it up in the mountains yet either… fingers crossed it snow soon for skiing season!)
        Enjoy!

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  5. Loved this post, Pam! This whole issue evokes more emotion than one thinks possible! I have both extremes, so I appreciate your candid sharing.

    One year while off at college, I had my tree up all year round because I felt sad and life was out of my control, so I needed a bit of happy & pretty when I was home. And there were years when we were young parents when we were financially too stretched to have a tree, so we went without.

    This year, Christmas decorations started going up a week or so ago. My initial reaction was, “Er …. really”. But I have to say, after running past them several times, they are really growing on me and getting me into the spirit of things.

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    1. Ah Ju-Lyn – I appreciate you sharing your stories. I agree – this whole xmas thing can be emotional for soo many reasons. I spent 10 years with someone who was not on board with putting up a tree at all – that sort of sucked the life out of the holiday. I feel like I’m making up for lost time on top of everything else ;-). I hope this Christmas is super special for you and your sweet family!!

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        1. wonderful! I’ve been to Orchard Road. I went to the Burberry store and bought some sandals on a super sale. The big gal sizes were 75% off. haha. yep, the prep is going great – very happy 🙂

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  6. I am so sorry to read about the death in your family. I think if you want a Christmas tree, you should have a Christmas tree. It reminds me of the song from Hello Dolly – “We need a little Christmas, right this very minute…”

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  7. So sorry to hear that you had a death in the family. The rest of your post made me laugh! I am TOTALLY one of those people that has to keep each holiday contained within their own month. But I do love Christmas and the happy feelings having the tree up creates, so I get where you’re coming from. Up until a couple of years ago we always cut down a real tree so we were limited by it’s fire hazard factor. 🙂

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    1. Ha! It’s early for 99% of the population! My flight home tonight is late, this might be a good thing – trick or treaters wont see the tree and bum em out. or at least their parents. haha.

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  8. We actually have mid winter X’mas in July here in NZ 🙂 so though I may not go anywhere outside the country for X’mas then at least here we can celebrate an early one!

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