It is I believe on.y the 18/11 but I have just seen my first Christmas tree in a house.?

I'm with you Sago, a paid up member of the "Keep Christmas in December" club.
I'd prefer it to be every 4 years like the Olympics really!!

Thank you Pittcity, you have made me laugh out loud. What an idea.
I live on a medium size estate and when l walk my dog in the evening l see who has put up their decorations. So far I've seen in the past ten days, 2 trees and 3 full sets outdoor lights.

DGD was mithering her dad about getting some decorations up when I was visiting them last week. DS, his partner and I all said 'NO' simultaneously. Last year, I took her into the woods to gather pine cones and various greenery which she made into a lovely frieze along the kitchen wall. However, by Christmas they had mostly withered away. I can't believe that some shops were selling real (but not rooted) Christmas trees six weeks before Christmas.

We will be going for our ( real ) Christmas tree next weekend, the 27/28th. It will be decorated one day the following week, I have to set aside a day for this as it takes me a while. ( Big tree, and perfectionist tendancies! )
This weekend we will be hanging our outside lights, only have them on the house,not light up things in the garden. This gives MrLP time to make all the connections etc, before they are switched on , on the 1st December.
I have started my pre Christmas cleaning this week ( ceilings, walls, inside windows and windowsills ).
I have to space things out, and do some each day. If I try to do too much in a day, I get stressed, and it brings on a migraine.
I plan to have all the decorations in the house up by the second week in December, leaving time then to enjoy all the fun stuff!
Cards are already written, will be posted on 31st Nov. Gifts for all except close family already wrapped and waiting to be delivered nearer the time.
Take care xxx

I'm in the US at the moment and there are Christmas decorations and lights everywhere (and it isn't even Thanksgiving!)
Not to mention loads of Halloween decorations still in a few gardens.

I don't understand it. Are people really so bored?

I remember reading a study that showed the massive increase in electricity used during December just to power things like lights. I can't find that but id find this from Utility Point

A recent study by ElectricalDirect has found that Britain spends a cracking £1.5 billion on electricity throughout December, with £66 million of that on Christmas Day alone – that’s a whopping 402,144,104 Kwh (or 402 Gwh) of electricity in just one day!

To put that into perspective, the energy we use on the big day itself could power Times Square in New York for 7 years, light up the Eiffel Tower for 50 years, and keep the famous Blackpool Illuminations glowing for 406 years.

I have been thinking about Christmas but have no tree or decorations up just yet. Last Friday when coming back from the dog walk I noticed two houses with tree indoors and full outside lights.
I looked after my grandson last Sunday and when I came home a close by neighbour had her tree up and full range of outdoor lights twinkling away.
I better get my son to take my baubles and allsorts out of the loft and start putting a few decorations up.
They are still letting off left over fireworks where I live and already Christmas decorations up.
As soon as they take them down they will be celebrating Easter and not even taking a breather in between.
Take care.

Ooops. Pressed post by mistake ?

My point was going to be - not exactly environmentally friendly, is it? And it gets worse every year, as the lights come on earlier and earlier.

I was nosing looking in a window last week and was very surprised to see a Christmas tree plus lights all lit up. I couldn't tell if there were any other decorations.

I remember as a child that my father brought the tree home on Christmas Eve and it was decorated after we children had gone to bed. It was a delight to come down to it on Christmas Day

We've had our first Christmas card already!

Christmas in our house starts 15 December and not a day before. If cards arrive before that they sit in a pile. The only exception is the Christmas cake, we start that the last weekend in September.

My neighbor has put up her tree already. I told her that I will be staging an intervention soon.

I am in the US and like to have my holidays all given special attention. I love our US Thanksgiving and refuse to decorate for Christmas until the day after.

Unfortunately, Christmas is pushed at us in the stores on November 1st. Actually, the last 2 years, they have pushed on us Christmas in July. It is utterly ridiculous.

Cards are already written, will be posted on 31st November

Really?

I passed a house with a lit tree in the window about an hour ago.
Far too early.
The weekend before Christmas is early enough for me.

We have a tree up in our hall. My daughter came home to decorate it for us.

Bit early? Maybe.

However, our terminally ill niece was coming to visit over the weekend. She hasn't been out of hospital for 3 months and her expression when she saw the tree was just wonderful. We had a lovely afternoon and even pulled a few crackers.

So maybe some of us have trees up for slightly different reasons.

Our main trees will go up on the 1st December.

It harms no-one . I don't understand why people get so judgemental about it.

I often wonder if there’s a story when people put their decs up early. We don’t know what’s going on in people’s lives and it does no harm. I agree it’s getting earlier. I was feeling like having a little sparkle in our lives with all that is going on at the moment and what has happened this last 19months so our Christmas decs are going up this Saturday then on Sunday our kids and grandkids are coming for an early fun Christmas dinner. I want our little GC to run in and say wow and be excited. Course we aren’t putting anything outside just yet don’t want the neighbours to think we are odd lol

Just returned from a little holiday ( in the UK) and the hotel was getting dressed for Christmas the day before we left.
A lovely old country house hotel, and it looked fabulous.
If we weren’t already doing something at Christmas we would have booked a few days there it looked so good.
For our own home though, I won’t be putting anything out until December.

Calendargirl

^Cards are already written, will be posted on 31st November^

Really?

?
I haven’t even bought them yet.Or any presents.Or wrapping paper.?(starts to panic.)

I can't imagine anyone would object to a house being decorated early so that a terminally ill person can enjoy a last Christmas with their family.

But a general trend towards starting Christmas earlier and earlier is different. There are many people for whom Christmas is a sad and difficult time, and many who are heartbroken at the thought of a first Christmas without a loved one. Do they really need to have people pushing Christmas in their face, weeks and weeks before the day?
Bar exceptional circumstances I wish people could just wait until December to start putting up the decorations etc. It's bad enough having shops shoving Christmas at you from September on.

Ours also to up usually a week before the big day if it mid week it may be 10 days. I can see one of our neighbours has hers up , her children are adults and no grandchildren. I have bought a few gifts and am trying to do my bit for the environment this year and have kept some brown packing paper (they put it in the Amazon packages) and some string to pack things up with. But I don't really but many anyway.

Scrooge said "Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine."

He was right, wasn't he?

Zoejory

We have a tree up in our hall. My daughter came home to decorate it for us.

Bit early? Maybe.

However, our terminally ill niece was coming to visit over the weekend. She hasn't been out of hospital for 3 months and her expression when she saw the tree was just wonderful. We had a lovely afternoon and even pulled a few crackers.

So maybe some of us have trees up for slightly different reasons.

Our main trees will go up on the 1st December.

It harms no-one . I don't understand why people get so judgemental about it.

I hope your terminally ill niece enjoys this Christmas and that there is hope she might enjoy yet another...

I saw my first Christmas tree the day after Halloween. I was driving to work and couldn’t believe it since then I have seen several in lit up mode. Far too early.