When do you decorate your home for Christmas?

[catholicrocks]

We normally wait until the 3rd or 4th week of Advent - I try to wait as long as possible, and my sister’s birthday is Dec. 12, so growing up we never put anything up until after her birthday to separate it from Christmas. I have Advent decorations that I put out, and they help me to ease into full-fledged Christmas decorations. I like to at least acknowledge Advent before celebrating the Christmas season. I LOVE actually doing the decorating, getting everything out, and finding things I have forgotten about is always fun, but taking down is a pain b/c it’s always kind of sad to me. I mean, at least when you are putting it up, you get the payoff of all your pretty Christmas stuff! It’s more like a chore to take everything down, though I do like the feeling that everything is clean and back in its place once I’m finished. Also, we never take down until after the Epiphany, or sometimes the Baptism of Our Lord, depending upon how it falls.

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

What about those people who decorate after Halloween?

**

I’ll answer since I posted that I once put up my decorations the day after halloween, lol.

I am a convert and am slowly learning about the true meaning of Christmas and trying to deprogram my brain from the commercialized secular version

I LOVE Christmas decorations. The lights, the ornaments, everything! I love shopping in the stores once they have their displays set up. I love the feeling I get. SO, I figured why not get the same feeling at home instead of only at the stores?

In my defense, Thanksgiving here in Canada is BEFORE halloween…

malia**

 

[Gearoidin]

**PLEASE DON’T TURN THIS THREAD INTO A DEBATE! **

Being a convert to the Church, I am simply wanting an estimate of what is “normal” for Catholics and Christmas Decorating.

**So…when do you decorate your home for Christmas? **

**And for that matter…when do you take your decorations down? **

We put up the decorations and tree on December 6th, feast of St. Nicholas but we don’t light the tree till Christmas Eve. We also have an Advent wreath and we change the candles to one big white one in the centre of the wreath on Christmas Eve.
Gearoidin

 

[AmberDale]

**

In my defense, Thanksgiving here in Canada is BEFORE halloween…

malia**

I knew you Canadians did things backwards I’m only kidding

I sometimes forget that this forum is international.

Halloween is Still Oct 31 for you guys?? Did you turn on your outside lights. shrug I dunno.
I’m a convert as well, my family didn’t do the whole church thing. But they believed (to a degree). We did Christmas and decorations were up the first weekend of December.

 

[whatevergirl]

We decorate the first weekend in December, which I believe marks the first weekend of Advent…looking forward to it.

 

[SMHW]

We’re another family that tends to decorate in stages.

The advent wreath will (hopefully) be up by the first Sunday of Advent. The other decorations go up little by little. The tree goes up whenever we manage to drag it out of the garage. It usually takes a while to decorate it. I wish I could say we deliberately wait until a certain date to decorate it but we usually wait to do so out of laziness.

The decorations usually start coming down sometime after January 1st. But the main nativity set (we have several) stays until at least Epiphany is celebrated.

We have “Winter decorations”, “Advent decorations”, and “Christmas decorations”. Winter decorations (pine cones, poinsettias, etc,) stay around as long as I feel like keeping them around.

 

[mommyof4]

usually that first weekend after Thanksgiving because we have time to do it.

 

[lindalou725]

I usually get the tree up the first week of Advent. I used to take it down shortly after New Years, but I will be keeping it up until Epiphany. We will have an Advent Wreath as well!

Have a happy Thanksgiving and a blessed Advent!

Lindalou

 

[Brenda_V]

I consider decorating the house as part of the Advent experience, the getting ready for Christmas.

We do have an Advent wreath with the four candles and one large white pillar candle in the center. We read a passage from Magnificat or other devotional book I have before we eat. When my girls were little we ate more often together but now they are both adults and although they live at home we don’t often get to sit down with more than two of us at any given time. When they were little the way it went was the youngest got to light the one purple candle all week long and we would light other candles on the table and eat without lights, the next week the oldest child got to light two purple candles (always the same two to show the passage of time, as the candles got shorter, Christmas got closer), the third week mom gets to light the pink candle and the two purple candles and the fourth week dad gets to light them all. Each successive week we could see how much more light was shining as we awaited the coming of “The Light of the World, the Messiah” so on Christmas we had four candles plus the “Jesus” candle lit (center white pillar candle) - it would be pretty bright at our evening dinner table then!

As to when we take the decorations down? Well last year we had a Fiber Optic angel hanging in the living room well into the summer. This isn’t unusual to find a decoration or two left up from the previous year when we start decorating for the new year - but for the most part we take down the tree and the more obvious decorations sometime after Epiphany. We enjoy our decorations and since I am allergic to a real tree we use an artificial one which allows us to have it up a whole lot longer.

Brenda V.

 

[Goth_Catholic]

We’ll probably start decorating ethier friday or saturday. Depends on how long Black Friday shopping lasts. We start right after Thanksgiving. My mom decorates for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I told her this year we should just forget the Thanksgiving decorations and go straight to the Christmas ones, but we’re having a big family dinner so that idea was out. Next year we might do that though, because my youngest brother will be 9 by then and he won’t be so “into” stuff like he is now. We also have dogs, which makes decorating with delicate things quite a pain. The tree goes up the second weekend in Advent and but we never take it down at the same time every year. It depends how dead it is, because we always have a real one. If it’s really dead, it goes down about 2 days after christmas, if it’s still doing well it comes down around the 31 of December, and once we left it up until after Jan. 6th. I hope we can do that this year. We need to get an advent wreath as well.

 

[happyseppy]

Ditto the Advent wreath!

And I couldn’t vote in the poll because, like many others, the rest go up little by little, the tree always being purchased Christmas eve morning and that day being the day it goes up and gets decorated. Then we have a light supper, take naps when possible and go to midnight mass! My favorite family tradition.

Everything stays up until at least Jan. 6, usually longer…

Peace,

Kelly

 

[Sr_Sally]

I understand people who decorate after Thanksgiving.
BUT…

What about those people who decorate after Halloween? As I’ve been driving I’ve seen people putting up Christmas lights the weekend after Halloween. Okay, that makes since considering it can get very cold and snowy here during Nov/Dec… UNTIL… I drive by again in the evening and the lights are on!!! No joke, even the lit up giant plastic reindeer and snowmen are lit… It’s not after Thanksgiving yet!! It was literally on the weekend after Halloween. These past few weeks I’ve seen a total of 6 house with their full Christmas lights out and ON…

I have a friend who decorates for Christmas right after Halloween also. She grew up in a non-liturgical Christian church and had NO idea what Advent was until she met me (she was in her 30s). So, she didn’t realize there was a “season” other than the shopping season. Since they really liked Christmas, they made it last. Of course, decorations came down right after Christmas–before hubby had to go back to work!

My 12/24 evening to 1/6 (or 2/2) evening plan didn’t go over well with her.

 

[Socio_Momma]

I voted fourth because the full effect of what people typically consider Christmas decorations starts going up the fourth week of Advent (i.e. tree), but we do Advent decorations that help prepare us throughout the entire Advent season. The Christmas decorations actually get added to with a little here or there until the Ephiphany, since the wisemen still have to join the Nativity & we make various decorations on different days (keeps those kids busy & the celebrations fun ). Decorations come down about the week after then.

We also celebrate St. Nicholas’ feast day on the 6th. I guess maybe I should have voted other…oh well somewhere in there we fall

 

[petitfleur]

I decorate the friday after thanksgiveing, mainly becuase I want to include my mom in it becuase she lives all alone. A friend of mine puts those plastic lite up Christmas charecters (Santa and Frosty) a few weeks BEFORE halloween and puts Halloween masks on them. So you have Frosty dressed as Darth Vador and a Yoda Santa.

 

[jusduckymom]

Last night on the way home I past a house with those animated lighted reindeer and scarecrows in the yard…I guess they were Holiday conflicted!

 

[Donna_P]

Dear Convert in 99,

May God be with you!

Since childhood, I’ve always put up my decorations the day after Thanksgiving or that weekend.

Now that I have children to whom I am trying to teach the Faith and keep Christ in Christmas, we do NOT put any baby Jesus in any of the mangers until Christmas Eve AFTER Mass. All baby Jesus statues are placed in a spot by my Pieta statue.

During Advent, we use a Jesse Tree to read about and discuss the events of our Christian heritage which lead us Jesus. We also use straw which my children “earn” by doing good deeds and then they can put it in any manger to help make ready for the baby Jesus.

We do celebrate St. Nicolas day on the 6th, but they usually get Holy Cards and Catholic Coloring books with a little bit of candy (this year I found chocolate angels!)

Our lights outside the house consist of a lighted Mary holding the baby Jesus, Joseph, an Angel suspended above them and a Star of Bethlehem. These I do start lighting up the day after thanksgiving through the 12 days of Christmas.

I take down my tree and house decorations shortly after the 12th day of Christmas/Epiphany. Outside, I leave up the angel in anticipation of Lent and keep her up until Holy Thursday. Then on Easter morning, I have a plain cross lit up with white lights which I keep up for the 50 days of the Easter Season to Pentecost.

God bless you!

 

[Leticia]

A few days before Thanksgiving so Thanksgiving dinner is extra special and we take them off, after the Epiphany

 

[srubio]

We love Christmas decorating at our home. We put up the lights and the tree the weekend of Thanksgiving. We set up our nativity scene except for the Infant Jesus. We save Him for Christmas eve after we come back from midnight mass or if we don’t go to midnight mass, before we go to bed for the evening. We start taking decorations down after New Years’s except again the Nativity until after epiphany. Hope this helps in making traditions for your family.

 

[Kanda]

We are going to put off decorating until the weekend after my daughter’s birtday party. (Her b-day is Dec. 5, party Dec. 8 - also our anniversary). We want her day to be special, and since we have birthday parties in our home, I don’t want to keep telling a bunch of little ones to stay away from the tree.

Everything usually comes down between Christmas and New Year’s, although I would really like to make it to Epiphany. Usually I just so sick of getting the cats out of the fake tree, kids going for ornaments, plus the dog this year…

We’ll see

 

[MamaCat]

It is a tradition in our home to decorate after December 8, the Immaculate Conception. We also leave our decorations up until after Epiphany and that includes lighting the outside lights, even though everyone else in the neighborhood has theirs off by New Years.
I enjoy watching the twinkling lights on our tree and thinking of God. Many a year I have lain beneath the tree and talked to God for hours.
Our tree decorations include stuff from every year and hte kids’ creations from preschool. So when we decorate it is atime to reminisce. The bells from my DH and my first year together, the 1st Christmas ornaments for each of the kids, etc…
Decorating is very much a family thing, everyone gets to help.