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We usually freeze our hands putting up Christmas lights around Thanksgiving.
I told DH that we should put them up early Nov. but not turn them on till Thanksgiving.

WHEN do you put up yours?

THANKS!

Guess we're old fogies, but we don't put up any lights. And sometimes, depending on our mood at the time, we might not even put up a tree. We don't have anyone coming for the holidays and its just the two of us. Sometimes, we just don't bother.

quote:

Originally posted by Florida Farm Girl:
Guess we're old fogies, but we don't put up any lights. And sometimes, depending on our mood at the time, we might not even put up a tree. We don't have anyone coming for the holidays and its just the two of us. Sometimes, we just don't bother.

I'm with FFG! A lot of work to put up/take down. And then the power bill arrives in Jan.! (eeekkkk)

But it's so worth the extra work!! Even if we didn't entertain during holidays, I'd decorate for my own enjoyment.

Mamaspoon, I really wish that I did get excited about decorating for the holidays but it's just not in me. Don't get me wrong, some years we have a very nice tree and various other things in the house. But we don't ever do anything outside.

I'm with Mamaspoon ~ we decorate just for the sheer pleasure of enjoying what we have created!
We live out in the boonies - no one besides ourselves sees them - but we do and it makes us happy!

But need to back up ~ first the Halloween decorations which will be going up this week. We'll spend a few weeks enjoying them; take them down over the Thanksgiving Weekend and then start with Christmas decorations and throw the lights to them about the second week of December!

quote:

Originally posted by marcydaisy:
We usually freeze our hands putting up Christmas lights around Thanksgiving.
I told DH that we should put them up early Nov. but not turn them on till Thanksgiving.

As you have probably seen, I'm with "the still decorating crowd" but only for our won enjoyment. YES, by all means, get them set up in early November when the weather is tolerable; throw the switch in early December. ENJOY!!!

My hub used to be humbug about ANY Christmas decorating. This year...he's ready to put them up early! I'm looking forward in putting up the pink fishing lure for our youngest member in our family.

Not sure when the lights will make it on...but we've already begun moving furniture just to make space for the tree. Yippee!

We put up wreaths for Halloween at home and at our office. We also have a Halloween village, lots of Dept 56 buildings that have already gone up at the office. In the conference room we have several large scenes. A couple of scarecrows will go up in the yard. Last couple years I've carved several large funkin pumpkins for Halloween itself. I used to carve lots of large pumpkins for the yard but I like the idea of keeping them from year to year.

Next comes lots of pumpkins and gourds for Thanksgiving. I have a collection of glass and ceramic ones for the office and home.

Finally, Christmas is a decorating extravanganza at the office and home. We love to decorate. January is such a let down, I keep up a few snowmen decorations.

We start the weekend after Thanksgiving. As soon as the lights are up they are on every night until January 6th. Then it takes us about two weeks to take everything down. LOL!

I don't put up outside lights, but most people around here have them up, but not turned by mid-November at the latest. They turn them on after Thanksgiving.

I stopped with the outdoor lites and decor about the same time I was "dreading taking them down" at the same time as I was putting them up. =)

Now all we have is a really large lit house wreath, and that takes about 5 minutes to hang and put on a timer. Same to take down, yeah!

After Thanks Giving was always our cue to light up, especially with a dusting of snow or just winter like weather.

We try to put out our porch lights the beginning of Dec.When we have a decent Saturday.

Honestly....there have been MANY people with the bah humbug spirit as of LATE. They don't put up lights...but give them a chance to receive a Christmas gift and they LIGHT up. : )

I'm looking forward to this Christmas. The reason for the season IS actually making a return! Thank you to all the naysayers and to those who thought they were making it difficult.

I can actually see the lights in ANY home! But to each his/her own.

Well said Trish!!

Wreaths, candles in the windows go up the day after Thanksgiving. We usually wait until the 2nd week of December for our tree UNLESS I can talk DH into an artificial tree. NOT LIKELY Can you believe it's almost that time of year again?? Trish212, I never realized the TRUE REASON FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON had ever gone away

ISA 9:6-7
LK 2
MT 1 AND 2

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Georgia Peach,

Probably just me, but it always seemed odd to light the outside decor until most all the leaves were down and we had cold/snowy weather. I think that a dusting of snow makes any lighting look very pretty.

But I do agree to put lights up before it gets so cold, the cords are stiff (as well as our hands).

After new years, we just hardly ever turned them on (unless we had a big snow).

We don't do outside lights but I like to see them on a dark evening. My previous dog (current one was rescued and hates walking in the dark) used to love going out on cold nights and walking. It simply made me feel so good to see all the lights.

we do lights but not as many and have passed the lawn orneys to the kids...but it's usually been the 3 day weekend...should do them this week with the sudden change to the 70's for a day or 2, lol...

we have a large fir that dh did lights on, and wasn't able to get theim down the first wonter we did them...ended up just leaving them on (unplugged, of course) and they look so funny now with the tree growth...has left some big gaps! but we still turn them on...

the hardest thing was the tree...went from the standard lit 7ft'er to one that fits on top of the desk in the lr...(about 3 ft) i can decorate in minitures in about 15-20 minutes and have it down in the same amount of time...

i also don't "allow" dh on the roof anymore...you just each an age where it's smarter to do lights a LOT lower!

as for taking them down it depends on the weather...some of the lawn ones spikes have frozen solid and it was really late one year...once in ca, fil "ditched" us right after the kids opened gifts, and i was so mad we put everything away day after, so when he returned, there wasn't one orney to be seen, and no leftovers from the meal my mother and i had made for christmas night...

now dh and i go to one of the 3 local kids and come home to peace and quiet, lol...

Thank you for your input!
We would decorate just for our own joy. The fist year we moved into this OLD house--my dh put up a lighted wreath that circled our big front window and later outlined our inside tree. (we use artificial as I have asthma and was told if we cut down our own tree-we're still bringing airborne bacteria into our house)

We enjoy having the lights on the dark December nights and we noticed that every year since we moved in--more and more people around us decorate. (we life in the country in a tiny area outside of Allentown PA) BUT since 1976--our lights are tradition except as the other lady said--I forbid my dh from rooftop lights (as did his DR.)! LOL!
Happy Holidays!

The weekend before Thanksgiving. I love seeing all the orny my kids made..sisters made...or just from the past years. I play the music, lights, and just the spirit of Christmas. My family is grown and gone to...just DH and myself at home. But I still believe in Santa...!!

I love decorateing for Christmas and lots with lites, and trees. My problem is dh, he could care less. Our grandchildren are 14, 11, 8, 6, and 3 and I love to see their reaction.
I find as getting older I can't do what I would like to. My 14 yr. old grandaughter is a great help but she is in High School, and school sports and working on her Bronze Medalion in swimming so her time is limited. My daughter is great and works half days, but I try to help her, maybe I should reverse that.
If anyone wants to help me I would love it.
I love doing it but get stressed if things don't go well.
from Canada

Glad to read about so many experiences ~ to answer the OP's question? Put the lights out with all of the work involved early November when the weather is kind and make sure they work ~ then wait until after Thanksgiving to turn them on!

Having said that, DH will wait until Thanksgiving weekend to start putting them up! But read the rest of my post before thinking - "men!
"

Since we moved to our new "forever" home in 2004, I've just let him do his own thing on his own time schedule ~ he never wanted to decorate outside at our old place; the family farm house we bought from his parents and lived for 28 years so we (me) just did the inside ~ from top to bottom and every inch of each room!

Now, the reverse is true - no more big tree inside and just a few special ornaments BUT, the outside? Wow, DH creates a magical space with Santa (my parents' first Christmas decoration ~ it's turning 71 years old this year as they were married in 1941) ~ at the helm of our old wooden wagon, probably two dozen deer of all types (some with antlers, some with scarves, and all moving), geese and gooslings) and, the latest thing, a huge blue pond that they all gather around.

Oh, and 48 (2ft tall) illuminated pines trees, several snowmen, half a dozen "Welcome" signs plus lit up bells and illuminated 3 foot tall Candy Canes that light up all of the above from the driveway to the old wagon to the yard and beyond... we keep it lit through mid-January at least!

Don't know if it will work for the rest of you but DH got excited about decorating the outside just about the time I had had it and said, "do whatever you want..." PS. It worked!

I put up the outside decor in Nov. when the weather is nice as I walk all over the roof putting up decorations and won't do that if it is wet/slippery. So it goes up on a nice day, but I don't turn the lights on until Thanksgiving night when my dinner guests are leaving. (Except to test them and see that they work.)

DH does not help with ANY of it, although last year he did run an extension cord from the back yard and moved some of the cords to stop the breaker from popping! I hope he didn't strain anything, LOL.

Then, the weekend after Thanksgiving, the house EXPLODES with decorations! I have to hang things from the ceilings now, as I have covered every other available surface, LOL. Again, no help, except my DM comes over one day to help with the 9' tree in my family room as the ornies on it plug into the light strands and it takes all day to do that tree. I love Christmas, have at least one nativity set in every room, and my response to the people who say it is too much work: "These are my toys and I like to play!"

Happy Thanksgiving,
Candy

This is my absolute FAVORITE time of the year! My B'day, wedding anniversay and Christmas all in the same month. Knowing the reason for the season gives me great pleasure.

I purchased a new tree that I plan to put up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Still on the lookout for vintage ornaments. Haven't put up lights outside since our kids were home. We're empty nesters now.

I've never put lights up outside - just don't want to get up on ladders, mess with cords, etc. But this year, I'm thinking of getting one of those Solar nets to put on the evergreen shrub outside my front window. And I might get one of those lighted, potted trees for the front porch if I find one I like.

Inside, I haven't done much the last couple of years or so. But this year, I'm having Christmas dinner so I'll put up my tree and decorations. I'll probably clean and rearrange furniture this weekend then start decorating.

Well, this year we put our outside lights up last weekend and will light after Turkey day. We were so excited to get them going as its the first year we've spent the holidays in FL instead of trekking back to MI for the holidays. Our fingers didn't even get cold this year.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mamaspoon,

The tree goes up before Thanksgiving. I had to get creative this way because some family comes Thanksgiving and then others on Christmas. The ones that come on Thanksgiving we have a little gift exchange after dinner. Strange but works.

1st DH and I did some outside lights...and he was a truckdriver who was not home every day. We had a tree and I did some inside decorating. I am NOT a "tree in every room" person. However when DS was small, he had his own little tree that he could decorate and redecorate to his little heart's desire.

Now DH and I don't do anything outside...it's just too much of an effort to get it started. I generally cut some greenery off our own property and make a real wreath to hang on the front door at the beginning of fall. After Thanksgiving, I add more red nature items to make it Christmasy.

I don't always put up a tree, but when I do it is a real tree - no allergies here. With or without a tree, I spread some Christmas cheer through the house with a bit of decoration and I always hang the stockings whether the "kids" are coming or not.

We've been doing "Christmas lite" for a few years now. DH fell off a ladder and no longer lights the trees. Now we have two lighted artificial trees on the front porch, a big wreath on the barn, and a large lighted tree in the huge upstairs window facing the street.

Inside I put out my Christmas quilts (about 50, large and small), nativity, Christmas dishes, and the large tree upstairs in the loft.

We used to do so much more, but I find I like this much better.

Oh, my word! 50 Christmas quilts!!! I don't even own one....(whine, whine, whine). Guess I should make myself one.

I'd love to see a picture of the quilty decor.

I'll be happy to post a pic when I can get DH to help me hang them.
--------------------
I found this picture with some of my small quilts.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Annon,

Whew, I thought when you said quilt, you meant full bed sized quilts.
You do beautiful work. Is that a tree skirt I see in upper left of photo?

Yes, thats a tree skirt and if you look closely there are two more. This is just the tip of the iceberg! These are the smallest Christmas quilts. Then we get to the wall hangings, the lap quilts & table runners, the bed quilts, then finally the antique quilts.

I know, it's crazy, but I love quilts!

I probably won't put most of them out this year. I just dont have much Christmas spirit.

We put them up last week.

This is the first year in a long time I'm looking forward to Christmas. My husband of 21 years passed away in November of 2009 (he was 48, I was 40), and had been very ill since November of 2008, so that first Christmas without him was a horrific blur for my teen daughter and I. And the next two years, I just had zero motivation to decorate, or care.

I am now engaged to a wonderful man (also widowed), and this year, we're going all out. He moved here last year, and like me, hadn't decorated for a few years. We're making up for it now! He spent days putting lights up on the house, and although it's not as much as I used to do outside, it looks wonderful, and I'm thrilled with it. He and I share identical design ideas, so it was fun working together on it. We both have a renewed sense of hope, although it remains bittersweet.

I'll try to share a pic, but it's a cell phone pic, and not very good quality. I can't wait until dusk every night, to turn on all the lights. We're such dorks, and just go stand in the street at night, holding each other, and looking at our lights.

.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mîz M,

Left side:

Flying reindeer, pulling my rustic wagon:

The pics make the lights blurry, but here are some details:

The two bottom windows have lighted poinsettas, the two dormers have lighted wreaths. We've since added some green uplights to a few of the larger shrubs that aren't lit in these pics.

We're still thinking of adding a bit more.

.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mîz M,