Why our Christmas season starts in November
Mentioning that you have your Christmas tree up any earlier than December 1st will always get you an extreme response one way or another.There are people completely against even mentioning the "C" word any earlier than after Thanksgiving, and people like me who start celebrating even before the carved Jack-o-Lanterns on the porch start turning brown. There has always been this divide and extreme feeling both ways, but it seems to have gotten more intense the past several years. Perhaps it is that the stores are now opening earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving. Some people seem to feel like beginning to celebrate Christmas in November means you are "skipping" Thanksgiving.
Don't get me wrong- while our family starts celebrating Christmas in November, we do have some quirky, makes-absolutely-no-sense guidelines to our madness.
We start watching Christmas movies in October when the Hallmark Movie Channel starts playing them. However, we do not allow ourselves to watch Christmas movies until all of our yearly tradition of Halloween movies have been watched. All Halloween decorations are taken down, packed up and put in the attic by 9am November 1st. The Thanksgiving decorations come out, mixed in with the general Fall decorations, and these will stay up until Thanksgiving weekend. My husband puts the Christmas lights on our house on a nice day in November, because it's much easier than trying to put them up in ice and snow in December. Our Christmas tree goes up when we get the urge to do so, usually a week or so before Thanksgiving.
I don't believe that celebrating Christmas in November makes you any less thankful, nor do I feel like I am "skipping" over Thanksgiving.
To me, they are both equally as important. I do know that if I don't start preparing for Christmas in November, I will be stressed out and unable to enjoy Christmas in December. Feeling organized makes me relax, which allows me to enjoy my Thanksgiving with my family more. I also enjoy having longer than a month to enjoy Christmas. Studies have actually shown that putting up Christmas decorations early makes you happier. Who can argue with Science, right?
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At the end of the day, do what you want. Don't let others opinions make you feel bad, and don't be that person to make someone feel bad because they enjoy extending their Christmas season. If you want to put your Christmas tree up in June, great. That's not anyone's business but your own and if it makes you happy then do it!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Heather Frankford lives in Noblesville with her husband, 2 kids and 2 dogs. She is the owner and creator of Suburban Boy Mom, a lifestyle blog, and enjoys DIY projects and decorating her home. Heather is fueled by Starbucks coffee and enjoys bad reality tv when the kids go to bed.
