When Do You Put Up/take down Your Holiday Decorations?

Halloween goes up the first week of October - that's the one we really go all out (outside).
Thanksgiving - I have fall decorations that go up after Halloween.
Christmas - decorations go up the first week after Thanksgiving and go down New Year's Day.

I am like you, I only go all out at Christmas for the kids. I also get no help putting up or putting away so it is just a chore for me too. Last year was great though, we did a Charlie Brown tree - no ornaments but a few red ones and a string of popcorn. Every year I put less and less out and throw a few away.

Happy Holidays!

Usually the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I did it yesterday (LOL!) I simply had a day free with my kids. I am quite relieved it is done and we can enjoy it.

We are in dire need of the cheerfulness of Christmas. I put my lights up the day after Halloween. I love them!! The actual tree wont come until about a week before and will stay up until the day after Christmas. The lights, however, will stay up beyond New Years Day. I wish everyone would put up lights, it makes the world a prettier place for a short period of time.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I can't stand Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. :) We will put ours up the weekend after Thanksgiving and take it down around New Years.

They usually go up the weeked after Thanksgiving weekend (or if we are feeling abmbitious Thanksgiving weekend). They all come down in January on the weeked following the epiphany (outside decorations often stay up until spring :)).

We always put up our Christmas tree with various holiday decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving. We take everything down the weekend after New Years.

I will put mine up this week, since I have a few days off... but I have been thinking that with the unseasonably warm weather we've had this month, I should have at least put up our outside decorations... it's supposed to be 70 degrees today!! And I'm stuck at work... ugh.

Just when I go to put my outside decorations up, it'll drop to below freezing... :(

As fro taking them down, I usually take them down in the couple weeks following New Years. After having them up for a month or so, I'm ready to get them down and get things back in their place.

Since I love real trees we don't get a tree until after Thanksgiving. Sometimes its the weekend of Thanksgiving, sometimes a week after Thanksgiving. Then I will go through and decorate the house.

In October I put out Halloween and fall decorations. After Halloween I take down the Halloween decor and leave the fall stuff up. So I switch that out after Thanksgiving to Christmas.

I usually take my Christmas stuff down around the 1st of January, depending on how bad the tree is by that point.

Oh and yes, I'm hating the fact my kids see Christmas decorations up already and are begging to put ours out. I have explained over and over, we have to celebrate Thanksgiving first.

We always put up our Christmas decorations the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving. I'm with you...wait til AFTER Thanksgiving! Although...we did take a trip down to Chicago over the weekend to see them light up Michigan Avenue for Christmas...it was really cool! Anyway....I will try to put up the tree and stuff Black Friday or the day after. Then it all comes down by New Years day! Usually I am sick of it by then!!! Time for summer!!! :)

They usually go up the saturday after thanksgiving and down on new years day. We put them up yesterday though. (I wrote a post about this) My husband had ants in the pants. I figured it was not something worth arguing. The house looks beautiful :)

I usually put my mine up the day after Thanksgiving and take it down New Years day.

When I was growing up the decorations didn't get unpacked until 2 weeks before christmas (I grew up in the 60's) and we didn't decorate our tree until tree until Christmas Eve - which was a few days later than most even then. Of course, back then the stores didn't decorate until right after Thanksgiving. I watched the "creep" of time as stores began decorating earlier and families began to follow. We are such willing consumers that we even "buy" our habits from marketers...

We take them down the weekend after new years - it all depends on when the holiday fall as it relates to days of the week!

Now I decorate Thanksgiving weekend but the tree doesn't go up until the weekend before Christmas. We have a heated slate floor in our living room and if we put the tree (real) up any earlier we'd have a fire hazard by Christmas Eve. Anopther factor is that when the kids were toddlers they would keep playing with the low hanging ornaments (my son at age 1 1/2 would just take a huge swipe at the tree at random times - to see everything sway and shake I think - who knows the mind of an 18 mos old?) so we'd have to re-hang things every day - by day 4 or 5 there was usually a big bare patch in the tree that was at kid level!

My kids are 11 & 14 and I still live in hope that they'll want to help decorate - take out all the precious memories - and as much as they like to stop and look at stuff they don't help much! oh well!

i feel the same way about putting them out before christmas - and this year it seems to be worse than ever! my 4yo son informed me as we were discussing it one night, driving around town, seeing how many christmas lights were up - "mom, those aren't christmas lights. it's not christmas. they're thanksgiving lights". i had to chuckle. it's a huge pet peeve of mine. BUT i just focus on thanksgiving, and how thankful i am for all the wonderful gifts in my life. let others skip it if they want. that's not how we roll around here! :) (and yes, decorating for six weeks for ONE day gets a little old - i'm usually taking it down a couple days after too...and i am not a grinch! lol - i LOVE christmas! lol)

We'll put ours up this weekend....maybe Wed-Fri since I'll be home with the kiddo's. And then it all comes down right after Christmas. I just want my house back after that.

i put mine up on black friday when everyone is at the stores or the next weekend i have the kiddo's...we make it a decorating party every year, new years day, it comes down

just don't forget to remember thanksgiving :)

Since we get a real tree, we won't get our tree until 2 wks before Christmas.

We spent yesterday and today putting the lights on the outside of the house only because the weather was so warm we wanted to take advantage of it. We won't start turning them on until after Thanksgiving though.

It will come down around New Years...maybe a week after.

Our son is 2 1/2 and this is the first year he's really "into" it so that makes it extra special/fun for the hubby and myself.

I don't blame you in that your kids are younger and perhaps it is much harder to have that kind of stuff around (esp for them to get into)
As for me, I put my Christmas decorations up earlier and earlier each year.
For Halloween , we had them up a month before and for Christmas, right after we took down Halloween , which was the day after Oct 31st, we then put up the Christmas.. Oh it's a bit early :) BUT I LOVE all those lights.. It makes me feel good when they are all lit up... it warms the room.. I suppose for me, it's not just about the lights and mess (which it can be) but having those lights on and colorful decorations make me feel even more festive.. The holidays are about giving thanks, that I do agree and I am so thankful for all those lights... Growing up in foster care and with drunken parents, I had many rotten holidays... I guess you could say, this is my way of making the holidays right...... and lights , glitter and sparkle, definitely help me get in the mood..

It's all personal, do what makes YOU feel good... if not having all that stuff out until last minute works with your schedule.. then by all means.. as your kids get older, they will dictate more of the holiday schedule... by that I mean, they will probably be at your side insisting you put a tree.. by then, you might feel differently about it.. so just go with the flow.. put them up if you want to and if not.. that's ok.. there are NO set rules.... only that you ENJOY your holidays :):)

happy holidays!

I put my tree up on Black Friday (no way am I going to leave the house with all those crazy aggressive people out and about) and take it down after New Year's. My neighbor down the street has a Christmas tree and a scarecrow on her porch which drives me a little batty (I know it shouldn't but come on lady...pick one or the other or just wait until after Thanksgiving). I don't actually know what ornaments I will be using since I have a mobile baby....hmm....maybe I should go shopping today for something baby friendly.

We usually do it Thanksgiving Day. The day is usually just our family (sometimes my brother's family too, since they are only 4 hours away). The rest of our families live two states away, so there's no one to have over for dinner who will care if we are decorating the tree. We have such insanely busy lives with all the kids activities and such, that if we don't do it Thanksgiving Day or at least that weekend, it may not ever get done!! The kdis are usually chomping at the bit to get the decorations out, the sooner the better for them. We have to have an artificial tree, since we travel back home the day after Christmas - and some years, Christmas Day. The tree would be dry and bare by the time we got home! We get the kids a new ornament every year that's special. It's a tradition my parents had for my sibs and me. The year I took ice skating lessons, an ice skater ornament., The year my daughter got her first horse, an ornament with an identical horse on it, etc.
*By the way, my kids are 11, 10, 8 and 19 mos. They are GREAT about helping me get the decorations out........spreading them all over the house....and then abondoning the project. I hate to say it, but they don't really become much of a "help". LOL!!!!

We had some unusually warm weather here so the outside decorations went up but have not been turned on and I have seen in my neighborhood that we aren't the only ones who said "ahhh....its 60 out lets put the lights up before its below freezing" As for our inside decorations my oldest's bday is the 14th so we don't put the inside ones up until after we celebrate his birthday because I don't want his day getting lost in all the Christmas excitement. We leave it up until New Years.

I love Christmas and my house "make over", during the holidays. I hate seeing all the decorations up before Thanksgiving. Our decorations and the tree go up Thanksgiving weekend. Usually the first weekend after New Year's the tree comes down along with all the Santa type decorations. Many of my "holiday/winter" (like snowmen) decorations will stay up to the end of January.

we decorate the weekend after thanksgiving and leave decoration up until the end of February. It gets me through the winter. I love the holly and christmas trees. It is too pretty to take down right after xmas. They are more of a winter/seasonal decorations then just christmas decorations.

I can't stand the Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. We have THREE radio stations already playing 24/7 Christmas music. Like others in this forum, I LOVE Christmas, but the overmarketing of the holiday just makes me cringe.

We decorate the weekend of Thanksgiving, most years. This year, we may decorate the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving since we're travelling for the weekend. That way we can come home to at least a semi-decorated apartment, our Nativity scene, and a fake tree. hahaha.

I always keep our decorations up until the Dia de los Reyes Mago (Three Kings' Day/Epiphany). I generally am good about taking them down the next weekend, but last year, I kept my little tree up until the end of January. I love the little lights on it and it made a great night light. (LED lights on that tree, so it stays cool).

Have fun and MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and take it down on either on New Years Eve or Day. My son's birthday is January 2nd so I want that day to be about him and not what's left of Christmas.
I have to comment on the decorating the tree from about 2 feet up. I did that when my kids were very little, putting all the breakables at/near the top of the tree. This worked great until my then 2year old decided to climb the tree and pulled it completely over. The breakables had so far to fall that most of them broke :(
I can laugh about it now but I lierally cried at the time as some of the ornaments were sentimental ones...oh well, I got over it though :)

I have always put the decorations and tree up about 10 days before Christmas and it all comes down on Jan. 1. I love the decorations and it all looks so nice but that is about all I can take of working around it all and the exta cleaning and dusting. That's about the max time I want a real tree in my house anyway before it becomes a real fire hazard. Most likely I would never put up any Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving which is a wonderful holiday all by itself and I see no reason to overlap. Each holiday should generate it's own traditions and memories and not be all run together with any other holiday.

We put up the decorations the day after Thanksgiving. My husband's family had a tradition of the Christmas season does not offically start until after Santa comes down in the Macy's parade. This means no Christmas music, etc, beforehand. We do get Christmas lists ready before (our kids are young, so we just pick the items we think they'll like) so people can go shopping on black Friday, etc, but that's it. Then taking it down just depends. I love sitting in our den with the tree lights on but no other lights at night. It's pretty. lol. This year we're going to be gone for Christmas though, so it might stay up longer so I can enjoy it after our vacation. Usually it's Jan 2 or 3, I think.

Hi R.,

For me, a lot of it has to do with the weather. If it is a warm autumn, I just don't get into the spirit. This year, we have had some COLD days, and maybe having two young ones, I had the bug to decorate early.

I try to get everything up, except the tree BEFORE Thanksgiving, because the family and friends that come over for Thanksgiving, do not usually make it over for Christmas. Everyone lives so far away from each other. So, I like to have the house festive for the feast on Thanksgiving. I really enjoy the day and it feels like it is the kickoff to the holiday season.

Christmas has become completely commercialized, but there is just something about little twinkling white lights that lifts the spirit, especially after the time change shortening our daylight.

Don't feel pressured to decorate because others did. Do your own thing, and you are NOT a grinch. It is a chore to decorate, rearrange, store things to make room for the decorations... I usually spend New Year's Day undecorating - I feel like I am preparing for the new year. I leave up the candles in the windows until about Jan 15. My mom's b-day is Jan 12, and she always enjoyed keeping them up until then. Tradition, I guess.

Have a great holiday season, and do whatever is LEAST stressful for you!
L.

I usually decorate the week before-sometimes I go all out-and sometimes not-like just doing the tree and maybe the dining room table and server. I take everything down after New Yrs. The tree gets put outside, on the deck, in the stand and lasts beautifully until June-ish. Then it is burned in the firepit during 4th of July! Last year I didn't decorate because the kids did not come home for Xmas-we went to my sister's-and I spent alot of time with my daughter and SIL because my Grandson was born right after Thxgiving. Best advice-keep it simple!

i'm still taking down halloween decorations! but we have more of them than we do christmas stuff......
we'll put up the outside decorations this weekend, then all the inside stuff except the tree the following one. we'll get the tree probably the weekend before christmas (we cut ours) and it'll stay up until about a week or so into new year's.
we love the house all decorated up, but by january i'm really ready for the clean uncluttered look again!
:) khairete
S.

When I was growing up we didn't put up our tree until Christmas Eve (because we could usually get a tree for free) then it was taken down New Year's Day. Before children I would wait until after my December 4th Birthday. Now with my children, and a fake tree, we decorate after Thanksgiving and take down New Year's Eve or Day. My son has a January 2nd birthday so I like to have everything down in time for his party.

Do what works for you. When I was growing up the only decorations we had were the Christmas Tree and a platter we put our snacks on. Then whatever crafts/art projects we did at school taped on the walls. It does not have to be an elaborate output of time and money to make it special. Do what you like a forget what everyone else does.