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When do you put up your Christmas lights?

jaymielo
15 years ago

I'm shocked! We are spending our first Holiday season in our new home and right after Halloween, Christmas lights began appearing! Now, I love to haul out the Christmas decorations and am all about getting the most bang for your buck, but this is much earlier than I'm accustomed to. I typically think of Thanksgiving weekend as the time to string up the lights. When do you all think it is appropriate to crack open the Christmas boxes?

Comments (30)

  • gemini40
    15 years ago

    Ditto - thanksgiving weekend here too.

    june

  • Sueb20
    15 years ago

    Wow, that is crazy. I always try to put up the lights over Thanksgiving weekend. I'll put up wreaths, etc., outside then too. But if I put up the Christmas stuff too early inside, I get sick of it by Christmas, so I wait on the interior decorating until at least a week later.

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  • TxMarti
    15 years ago

    Yup, Thanksgiving weekend here too.

  • jaymielo
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    So I'm not crazy! Good to know. I've always abided by the Thanksgiving weekend rule. Guess I'll hold out until then! Thanks! Jaymie

  • gardenwebber
    15 years ago

    We hang our outdoor lights the first nice week that we get in late Oct/early Nov. You never know when the snow and cold temps will arrive here in NY and we hate hanging outdoor lights in that kinda weather!

    BUT... we don't turn the lights ON until after Thanksgiving.

  • lynninnewmexico
    15 years ago

    Thanksgiving weekend for us, too. The main tree goes up then as well. As much as I love the Christmas Season, I like Autumn and Thanksgiving, too. I don't like to rush things. . . "a time for every season".

  • donnawb
    15 years ago

    Sometimes I will put up the holiday lights a week before Thanksgiving if I have a lot to do the following weekend but I never light them before Thanksgiving.

  • cooperbailey
    15 years ago

    lights begin appearing Thanksgiving weekend around here. But we don't decorate until about 2 weeks before Christmas.

  • xantippe
    15 years ago

    jaymielo, we noticed four houses and one business with Christmas lights up... the day after Halloween! Sheesh! We live in the relatively mild Pacific Northwest, so weather can't be the excuse.

  • jaymielo
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    You know, xantippe, now that you mention the business, I'm beginning to wonder if these lights aren't up SO early because they were professionally installed. I would suspect they have to get going early to get everyone's lights up. Maybe I'm noticing they are up so early because I'm now out-classed! :-) I better get hoppin'. I don't even know how I am going to decorate the new house yet! j.

  • susieq07
    15 years ago

    We always start the Sunday following Thanksgiving, and they come down New Years day, New Years Eve is the last lighting...after all it's a new year and a long way from Christmas!!

  • trailrunner
    15 years ago

    We have our annual neighborhood Victorian Porch Tour the second week of December each year. This year it starts the 9th and finishes the 14th. We decorate the porches on our 2 streets on that Tuesday and then the tour officially opens on Wed PM. We decorate our individual home with white lights only on the weekend preceding the porch tour and remove them on New Years Day. Not too much of a good thing . c

  • daisyadair
    15 years ago

    We put ours up Thanksgiving weekend. I finally convinced my husband to buy a safety harness to use while putting them up. It's scary up there!

  • jaymielo
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Speaking of harnesses, the peaks on our new house are rather high and although we put outlets in the eaves, I'm beginning to think that maybe I should just put battery operated candles in all the windows in the house instead of navigating the eaves in the bitter wind. I wonder if that would be enough, coupled with a nice big wreath (I'm thinking 36-48") on the top front porch and one on the door? Our neighbors seem to go all out on lights, but maybe I should try for an understated classic look instead. Our house is markedly different than most of our neighbors anyway. If I add any lights, maybe those great big white "old-fashioned" bulbs, just in the peak of the front porch?

  • margaritalady
    15 years ago

    The decorating begins the Friday after Thanksgiving at our house--never before--and comes down the weekend after New Year's. One of my pet peeves is Christmas decs still up in March. I live in a cold climate, but still, really, you can't brave it for a few minutes at a time?

  • jaymielo
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    I'm in complete agreement about taking the lights down in a timely fashion also. I was searching online but can't find what I'm looking for. I seem to remember a rumor in our town that you could be fined if you didn't have them down by Feb. I think your neighbors needed to report you to the city or something. Lovely!

  • beach_rose
    15 years ago

    We tend to put up our lights much closer to Christmas, but they would never go up before Thanksgiving. We keep them up until January 7, once some Eastern churches have celebrated their Christmas.

    That's a great solution to set them up on a nice, mild day or on a day off but not to turn them on before Thanksgiving. It is indeed a PITA setting up lights etc on a cold blustery day.

  • tinam61
    15 years ago

    jaymeilo, I personally prefer (for us and our house) the simple look of candles in all the windows. We don't do outside lights other than some years I will do evergreen or grapvine garland around the front door and put white lights in with that. The window candles are all white lights.

    We will do the candles and evergreen wreaths with red velvet ribbon for each window and a larger wreath for the front door.
    We never put out Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. We usually have the decs down a few days after Christmas.

  • rucnmom
    15 years ago

    We put our outside lights on our shrubs last weekend since we could get snow any time now. I also put the candles in the window because I was in the mood. DH wants them on the day after Thanksgiving. Me - I'm a December 1 kind of girl. I will give in since Thanksgiving is late this year. We keep them up until Jan. 7 - to honor DH's "Little Christmas" tradition (he's Italian) and DS's Russian heritage.

  • Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
    15 years ago

    Uhhh..I'm doing some inside decorating today. I have a big party the first week in December and really would be stressed if I had to do all cooking, cleaning and decorating in one week. You can't see our house from the street and I won't have anyone over formally until then so it really doesn't matter much.

    My official "rule" however, is day after Thanksgiving. And we are going somewhere else for Turkey day this year, not hosting, so I'm chillin' on decorating formalities.

  • IdaClaire
    15 years ago

    I'll admit that my first thought about putting decor up right after Halloween was that it's way too early ... can't we get through Thanksgiving first? But after giving it some more thought, I feel a little different now. Why does it really matter? If you enjoy festive lights and want to go ahead and hang them up, why not? Who gets to the be the final authority who says "Christmas" lights are only for Christmas? ;-)

    My neighbors put twinkly lights out among their Halloween decorations, and it all works together beautifully. Another neighbor has lights outlining her front porch during the summer months. It doesn't look weird -- it looks like a barbecue or pool party's about to happen there at any moment. It announces, "THIS IS THE PLACE!"

    As for greenery and other decor that may seem to scream "CHRISTMAS!", if it works in your climate prior to the arrival of the holidays, why not enjoy a few evergreen wreaths "early"?

    And not to be a total Debbie Downer, but sometimes I see Christmas decor that's put up very early or left up well past Christmas, and my first inclination is to think, "Oh, what's wrong with those people! Don't they know what month it is?" -- But maybe they have a sick child or an elderly person who may not live to see another holiday, and those decorations are up solely for the enjoyment of the people living in that house. (Or then again, maybe the residents really are clueless about what is considered "appropriate timing", but if that's the case, I don't think it really hurts a soul.)

    Just my $.02! :-)

  • tnkcfan
    15 years ago

    I live in Tennessee & we leave ours up year round.

    Just kidding! I couldn't help it. People around here turn theirs on around Thanksgiving.

  • jaymielo
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    bumblebeez, I admire you! I'm also hosting a party the first Friday in Dec and another on Dec 1. The one on the 1st will be a low key 4th BDay for DS, so anything reasonable goes, but the other one on the 5th is a large party for 40-60 guests, depending on RSVPs! I wish I was already decorating inside. The only thing I've done so far is start making "ice votives" to line the front walk on the day of the shebang. I figure I need at least 16 and I'm making them 2 at a time, so I should just make it. ;-) The tree and everything else will have to happen between the 1st and 5th since we will be at our families house for Thanksgiving.

    auntjen, You are absolutely right. Who am I to judge, about this or other things? To each their own. For me, it is more my neurotic side hoping I'm not falling behind and hoping to do the "right" think in a new neighborhood. I ordered candles for the windows today and a new wreath. I think they should be here in ample time to "deck" the house.

  • dgmarie
    15 years ago

    The professional decorating crews were on my street this week installing megawatts of lights. We never do it but we do put up lights on our bannister which can be seen through the front windows. There are some big dog houses here and you'd need a scissor lift to hang the lights. I can imagine the cost. But they are gorgeous....like Disney's electric parade threw up in your yard.

  • spitfire_01
    15 years ago

    This has never been a problem for us. Last year was the first year we had ANY outdoor decorations. I never understand how people have time for that sort of thing  No kids? No jobs? No kids and no job? Kind grandparents to watch the kids? Lots of money to pay someone else to do it?

    Last year we (I) bought wreaths to hang on the windows and a few strands of lights for the front walkway. Taking the decorations down in a timely manner wasnÂt a problem. One by one all the wreaths fell off. By Christmas Day, I think we had ONE left. (Of course that one had to be pried off!) Apparently the command hooks that I bought werenÂt strong enough for the wreaths. IÂll have to regroup this year. Taking down the strands of lights took a little more effort, mainly because while removing the lights I found BAGWORMS on my weeping Japanese maple! So after removing the lights, I stood out in the cold with a pair of hand pruners and a plastic bag and meticulously snipped every last blankety-blank bagworm off my tree! I hope no-one throws stale candy canes at me, because I'm sure I didn't take down the globe lights until mid-January.

    We put up the decorations when we can, and we take them down when we can. Sometimes they are never put up. (We've had at least one Christmas with no tree.) Sometimes they are slow to come down. (One year my tree stayed up until March hence the reason I didn't put it back up the next year. I managed to put the tree UP during my maternity leave then couldn't figure out how to get it DOWN while working full-time with a newborn.) We have no set schedule or rules. We usually travel to be with family on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Spending time with family trumps decorating (or undecorating) any day.

    Nin

  • pjgolden1
    15 years ago

    We are working on ours now. SIL is coming home from Iraq near Thanksgiving, won't be home for Christmas. I'm celebrating while I have him!

    HOA rules are no decorations until two weeks before holiday. HA! Not this year at my house!

    PJ

  • laxsupermom
    15 years ago

    Gardenwebber, LOL about the snow. We put ours up Thanksgiving weekend and keep them on until the new year, but they stay up until the snowpack has melted(March or April) I've seen too many people fall off of their roofs to send DH up there just to pull the lights down. And chipping away at ice and snow to pull the lights off the bushes is just too much work. Leaving the lights up has its hazards. There are usually at least a few strands that have been chewed through when we take them down.(hungry deer getting at the bushes)

  • ttodd
    15 years ago

    Usually we also decorate the wknd. after Thanksgiving but this yr. I am actually starting inside today & outdoors on Black Friday. This yr. we are going on vacation to Williamsburg the 1st full wk. in Dec. & having a kids Winter brunch the Sat. after Thanksgiving so I will be in a Christmas Decorating Crunch if I don't start early this yr.

    One of our local radio stations started 24/7 Christmas music early since the Phillies won the World Series. They said it was an early Christmas present for the Phillies to win so this is the stations gift to us.

  • tschuller
    15 years ago

    PJ, couldn't agree more! For our brave soldiers ANYTHING GOES!

    We have lived in Europe for the last seven years so we became conditioned to head into Christmas Nov 1st. So, I am still trying to get back in the swing of Thanksgiving beacuse we didn't celebrate for so long! I do have a few things up in the house...I couldn't help it. It is our first year back in the USA...new house, etc. The excitement has gotten the better of me. I am just trying not to let the neighbors see yet so they don't make fun!

    Tracey

  • igloochic
    15 years ago

    We are called the city of lights here, and our holiday lights have to fit in with that theme. (Ok they don't have to but if you're cool they do). They go up in Late September, and stay up until May or June, depending on the first thaw.

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