Another Question from a Blogfriend

This question was e-mailed to me

Connie rants....

This weekend I drove by a home that had their indoor Christmas tree lit and decorated Don't these people get sick of looking  at the same damn tree by the time  the big day comes? This morning I received  my first Christmas card of the year (actually, it was a Christmas newsletter - I HATE THOSE, because if I am your friend I do not need a yearly update, if  I DO need a yearly update then I really don't care enough about what is going on in your life). I threw it in the blue box with other papers to be recycled. This  afternoon the receptionist at the dentist's office had a damn Santa hat on. This pained me more than the root canal.

Note from me to everyone else: It's too damn early to start with the festivities. I barely accept the fact that stores put their holiday crap out before the end of October. You can plan. You can shop. But, really, must  you start this ho-thing this early?

Connie wants to know.....

Do you think there is a proper time to start the holiday decorating and card mailing, and  if so, what time is that?

Comments

[kenju]

December 15th was always the date my family decorated and mailed cards.

[AOC]

Card must be mailed out by Dec 15th or the third Saturday, light must be on the house by Dec 9th or the second Saturday, Christmas music can be played (in your own home) 2 days after Thanksgiving. And don't you people celebrate Boxing day or something? why all the worry about X-mas :)

[Virginia]

I've always done all of it the day after Thanksgiving.

[John W. Leys]

I have to disagree with her about the yearly newsletters. I love them. Because I have quite a few friends who I care about quite a lot, but who live too far away to stay in touch with all the time. Those newsletters give me a chance to catch up on any news I may have missed during the year. If you don't like them, don't read them, but I don't see any reason to be so bitchy about them.

[MissMeliss]

December 1st for outdoor lights, though if you live in a Cute Neighborhood, US Thanksgiving weekend is acceptable.
Cards and gifts should me mailed by the 15th.
Indoor decorations at one's discretion. Personally, I do it in stages, so I'll hang a wreath and change the flowers and candles early in December, but the tree doesn't come out til mid-month, and doesn't get decorated til Christmas week...we can do that cuz ours is plastic.
And I'm pro newsletter. But opposed to cards where people don't write personal messages.

[Dak-Ind]

weather permitting, i prefer the first weekend in december for exterior lighting. On the first Saturday in december, after the lights are up and turned on, i settle in with my adress book and two books of stamps and spend about two hours writing notes and preparing cards to be sent out on Monday. I always am sure to have 3 or 4 extra "reciprocation" cards, in case i get a card for someone who wasnt on my list, i can send them one.
The tree goes up Monday, as well. I normally purchase it on the way home from the post office where i dropped off the christmas cards. Monday night, we have a small gathering of friends and family to help us decorate the tree while we play old Rat Pack music and sip Martinis. This is the only day of the year i wear pearls.

From then on... the holidays are awash in light shows, parties, shopping, wonderland visits, santa claus letters and joy.

[kimbofo]

I'm with Connie. I hate this stuff. If Christmas was banned for a year I certainly wouldn't miss it.

[Wisconsin Karen]

Well, Connie (and Michele), I agree that it should not be done in October or early November, but I think Black Friday (a.k.a. the day after Thanksgiving) is the generally accepted day upon which you can start celebrating.

[Suzanne]

I usually start the first weekend after Thanksgiving with the decorations. It takes a while, and I'd like to enjoy them for a few weeks before I have to take them all down. Which is another question. When to take them down? For me, it's always the day after New Years!

[Chrysalis]

December 1st should be the absolute earliest anyone (including and especially shops) is allowed to put out anything Christmas. By law.

[Jennie]

I have a friend whose Christmas card arrives the day after Thanksgiving and it is always a homemade creation piece of art extravaganza. This does nothing but make me bitter. ;) I think somewhere around December 10th is nice for Christmas cards to start coming...My neighbors have put up their lights and I am enjoying that, I must admit. Trees? It's a little early in my mind, but my 9 year old is begging me as I write to put up the upstairs window tree today. Ain't happenin.

[Terri]

I've always felt the day after Thanksgiving is the official start of the holiday season....and that includes those annoying TV commercials (that started a few weeks ago) and are already irritating me.

[Jennie]

I think, for me, anticipating the arrival of Christmas is part of acknowledging its specialness, so when everything comes so soon and all at once it can dampen the excitement.

[Janet]

I start decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving...no set date to get everything up, and no set date to send cards. I love driving at night and seeing the lights, and as I don't spend alot of time in stores, their early decorations don't bother me. I think Connie needs to watch the Grinch a few times ;-)

[Two Sirius]

Thanksgiving weekend for me. It's usually the most convenient time for me to set aside a few hours to put up the indoor decorations, and if I'm going to spend that kind of time doing it, I want to enjoy the decorations for awhile. No point if it's only going to be up for a week.

We don't do Christmas cards. No particular reason. Just never have.

[rampantbicycle]

I love Christmas, so I think Dec. 1st is a perfectly acceptable decorating time for anyplace that is not a retail establishment, as these operate on the special Mystic Retail Calendar that warps spacetime.

For cards...well, when I am good and get them all sent I try to time it so that they hit around Dec. 15th or so. That seems to me like a good not - too - early, not - too - late time, as I know a lot of people who like to display their cards.

[Pearl]

Connie needs a massage by elves.

December, when you get around to it, seems like a good time for starting to think of Christmas decorating etc. If trends keep up Halloween will become a sub-holiday within Christmas.

And I'm with John, I love the Christmas letters.

[Chrissie]

I'm perfectly fine with people starting whenever they want to. For myself it is usually somewhere around 2 wks before Christmas.

[Veda]

I know someone who calls the newsletter-style cards "brag letters." There are those that come across that way, but I, too, have distant family/friends whose schedules don't meet up with mine and therefore these letters are great to get from them.

I don't care to hear "Jingle Bells" in September in the stores (and I have). Otherwise, I'm not at all organized about it. Some years shopping's done by the end of October, other years, Christmas Eve. There's too much to stress over as it is and I guess I just refuse to get so caught up in decorating, cards, etc. I do them, but not in any set manner or on any set schedule. It gets done and that's good. :)

[archshrk]

I don't like to decorate until December starts. I want to savor Autumn a little more (especially after Thanksgiving) before getting into the Christmas theme. I don't mind seeing a few "supplies" at the local stores because you do want to stock up before you decorate but to get into the festive decorating before Holloween is a bit much. It's like Starbucks or Krispy Kremes diluting themselves by showing up everywhere from supermarkets to gas stations. It's the uniqueness that makes it special. Now it's just common and the quality has gone down.

[Paula]

Whatever peeps want is fine with me. It has nothing to do with us (we're Jewish), and I like looking at the pretty lights. The more, the better. And those newsletters bring us great joy cuz we read them aloud and mock them to death. I also love the fact that Reese's Holiday Trees have been out for a while. It's all good! Oh, except for parents lying to their kids about Santa. That's wrong.

[barbie2be]

i usually write out my cards over thanksgiving weekend and mail them on december first.

i love the light so those do go up and are turned on every night from the day after thanksgiving until the day after new years.

[Becky68]

I decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, growing up my Mother & Grandmother made us wait until the first weekend in December before we could decorate. I was not the first on my road to put lights outside though I was second!

[annie]

The day after Thanksgiving is "Christmas time". I do hate to see it any earlier, though.
I used to not like Christmas much and only put up decorations the weekend before Xmas, But now I like it and start the day after Thanksgiving.
I HAVE to start thinking of doing the cards then, or I would never get them out by the 15th! I will do them this weekend, I swear!

[Rosemary]

A little too early for the inside tree, but the outside lights in my neck of the woods..literally...are a year round thing; welcoming on a rural road. As for those yearly letters, we in rebellion, sent one several years back that said somewhat...one son is in jail, another bought Toyota Motor Works, our daughters were in foreign countries buying up land after receiving their 7th PhD, we had finally achieved our goal of full financial liquidity and were buying an island somewhere. Got some laughs and one letter that was a bit less grandiose the next season. Do all of the children in my circle of friends have IQ's off the board....I don't think so.

[Paige]

Yes the commercial thing has gotten way out of hand. But that is because they want your money as soon as they can get it. If they remind you the season is coming, they may get before you spend the wonderful stuff in some other store.
I think December 1st is plenty early enough; Although our tree is up. The long weekend makes for a good time to do it. I will not have any other time for decorating before the big day.
Besides I love red (garnets) and green (emeralds). Gold and Silver are very good (metals) too.

[david]

december 12 at 3:17 pm

[Sue]

If I'm going to the trouble of decorating, I want it to last awhile so I'm guilty of putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. I don't decorate outside though. Christmas cards don't need to go out until the 15th at the earliest.

[Claire]

I do my overseas cards the first week of December, my other cards I do about 10 days before Christmas and my decorating I do as late as possible...usually the weekend before Christmas!

My sister on the other hand has her house fully decorated already!

[monique]

i used to wait til Dec. 1 til anything christmas holiday-y went up. now that i live in upper-middle-snooty-class suburbia the day after thanksgiving seems to be the date to shoot for. i'm holding off putting up the tree til after my birthday this year due to a trip to Niagara. though we usually do that the weekend closest to my birthday (that would be the 9th of december, just so you don't think we wait til march or april to do that type of thing)

[Shannin]

I will usually send card out about 2 weeks prior. The tree always goes up 2 weeks before, on a Saturday night. Outdoor lights are a little more tricky. When I lived in So Cal, it was 2-3 weeks prior. Now that I'm in a cold weather state, it's when you think it's going to be dry and not too cold, but they shouldn't be turned on until the first of December.

[karen]

We start in the weekend after Thanksgiving, at least getting boxes out and whatnot. Hubby starts with the outside lights, but keep in mind, he's gone most of the week up until a few days before Christmas because of school. If we don't start then, they don't go up.

[Marisa]

On the 1st day of christmas - my true love said to me " It's time to put the Christmas tree.

On the 2nd day of christmas - my tre love said to me " we still have more decorations"
On the 3rd day of christmas - my true love said to me " hey look what I found in the attic - more decorations"
On the 4th day I said 'STUFF IT - it can stay up all bloody year and then we won't have to worry about it next time"
God I love Christmas

[dena]

I happen to love the decorations, the cards, and the entire spirit of Christmas. Our lights are up, my cards are ordered, I've started looking at new recipes, and I'm excited about the onset of the season.

I do think the shopping is ridiculous though.

[Bryan]

As far as Holiday Newsletters, my opinion is: "It entirely depends..."

Holiday newsletters can be a fantastic way to stay in touch if written in a MODEST and ENTERTAINING manner....

HOWEVER,

Waaaay too many holiday newsletters are far too conceited, boring and outright arrogant.

I have a website that has some funny examples (both real and fiction) of holiday newsletters gone wrong: http://www.funnyholidayletters.com

Feel free to email me any funny examples you have with personally identifiable information blacked out (bryan@funnyholidayletters.com)