Is never an option?

Any time after Thanksgiving is acceptable in my opinion.

Anytime the weather is nice 30-60 days before of Christmas.

The real question is when to turn them on, which is up to the wife and her rule is Thanksgiving Night.

Inside- whenever the hell you feel like it.

Outside- after 12:00 P.M. Thanksgiving day

I'd recommend the first of December as the absolute earliest. If you want to not look like a cock knocker, then wait until December 12.

Some people never take them down. They just turn on the lights after Thanksgiving and turn them off after New Years.

And the correct answer is "never." Christmas decorations are culturally insensitive and offensive to non-Christians. Put up holiday decorations, or put up nothing at all.

There's never a wrong time for this...

Macy's puts theirs up in September.

They go up the Friday right after Thanksgiving in my house.

Before December 23.

My tree was up by 10AM Friday. Of course, that's the only decoration we'll have.

We decorate the week-end after Thanksgiving. The stuff comes down on New Years Day. If I waited any longer to put-up the garland and stuff on the outside (minimal lights), my hands would freeze in a clenched position.

I have neighbors who have their icicle lights up 24/7/365. Rather annoying since those things were passe withing days of their initial release.

December for me. The ex is getting her tree today. :P

I'll hafta ask the Walmart shoppers of New York.

And the other related question: when should you take them down? Case in point: Somerville, MA. I think some people won't take them down until the first snow thaw. There's a garage here in Malden that has a giant illuminated Christmas bow they leave up year-round.

Black Friday for my family. Any earlier is annoying.

Just keep them up all year.

Anything before Thanksgiving pisses me off. Anything around Halloween throws me into an inconsolable rage. As the first robin of the year signifies the arrival of spring, the first Christmas decoration signifies the arrival of months of Michigan snow. If you live in a place where the term "lake-effect snow advisory" is spoken frequently by local weathermen, you may know where I'm coming from on this.

I'll give in and put the tree up in a few weeks if I can find room amongst all the clutter.

My mom just put up the damn tree yesterday. Now she's on a decoration rampage.
Me- "Mom, I think you're going over bored."
Mom- "Shut up and help me put up the lights."

Anyone else see the irony in the assertion that anytime after Thanksgiving is an appropriate time to put up christmas decorations, in response to a BBC article?

I 'll just watch The View and they'll tell me the appropriate time to put them up. I base all of my decisions on what is happening on TV

It used to be that most people don't put them up until a week or so before Christmas in this part of Germany. The city would be decorated just before the Christmas market was set up, which would start on the First Sunday of Advent (the fourth Sunday before Christmas). More and more people are putting them early, about the same time as the decorations go up in the city. It used to be hard to get a Christmas tree the first week or two of December, but there is a place selling them here that has been up for about a week. I don't really think it should be up much earlier than that, otherwise you are pretty bored of it by Christmas time.

I used to live 3 miles from these weirdos. They left the christmas decorations up all year.

On the other hand it is Santa's house in North Pole Alaska, so maybe its ok.


/Hot linked to help global warming

I would have to say, for homes, anytime after Dec. 15th. For business, after the 20th. For advertising, never.

I try never to put mine up before the previous years'.

After Thanksgiving to put them up, and take them down on Jan. 6.

/Dec. 25 + 12 days of Christmas = Jan. 6

nekom: Any time after Thanksgiving is acceptable in my opinion.

I agree, but that doesn't help them poor UK kids in that article lol.... I have noticed some people have had decorations up for a month now, and that is just plain stupid. Never saw that when I lived up north -- seems more retarded down here though (SC)...

The real question is# Why is Subby browsing a website for pre-teens?

'The question of our age'...

I guess subby was 12 years old then by the look of the responders' ages!

shipofthesun: I would have to say, for homes, anytime after Dec. 15th. For business, after the 20th. For advertising, never.

This.

I like to use my birthday (Dec. 12th) as a metric. Seems like the perfect transition point from "wtf winter" to "YAY CHRISTMAS!" without getting sick of it too fast

Not before the first week of December.

I put mine up the day after Thanksgiving.

Rain (and sometimes sleet) seems common in Austin, TX during December. My yard takes 2 days to dry out thanks to the plethora of trees that prevent the sunlight from seeping through. I also have plenty of other obligations (family, work, etc.) that eat up valuable weekend time. For this reason, I decorate on the first available/nice weekend during or after the first week of Thanksgiving. This year, it was this weekend. :)

// Last year it was the week before Christmas and even then I had to rush things. :(

Hiro Nakamura

Outside- after 12:00 P.M. Thanksgiving day


Noon? Do you eat Thanksgiving breakfast?

*ponders*

That's actually not a bad idea: a big turkey and cheese omelette with a side of stuffing, cranberry sauce on a bagel...

jenniferwillow: December 26th

Came in to say this.

Note for the busy non-American reader: the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday provides a useful backstop for Christmas decorations. Typically people don't decorate until after Thanskgiving.

In Europe, particularly the UK, any time after Easter will do.

There's no need to put up what you never take down. It's christmas every day at the Fisrt Post household.

polf pilf: If you live in a place where the term "lake-effect snow advisory" is spoken frequently by local weathermen, you may know where I'm coming from on this.

Been there, Done that.

Used to live in Niles, part of the reason I now live in FL.

(and not a member of aarp yet)

Go redneck.

There's place not far from here (rural Florida) where a guy has a steel cable running from the house to some kind of power or phone pole. Suspended from the cable is a sleigh and reindeer. Pretty close to full size.

Stays up all year.

Kinda looks funny on a July Saturday morning - Santa flying over all the other redneck stuff laying about.

My wife puts them up right after the Halloween decorations come down. Basically I live in clutter from October 1st, right through until the first week of January, with all the decorations for the different holidays...

She's a freak.

you mean to tell me that you take yours down?!

dofus: Go redneck.


Kinda looks funny on a July Saturday morning - Santa flying over all the other redneck stuff laying about.

That's one thing about being up north. After a snowfall even most of the redneck's yards look nice.

Beatle_Matt
My wife puts them up right after the Halloween decorations come down. Basically I live in clutter from October 1st, right through until the first week of January, with all the decorations for the different holidays...

This is why I've pretty much quit doing any holiday decorating, eve for Halloween (my favorite holiday). It's a lot of work and a lot of clutter, especially when (a) we live in a rowhome with no porch and no yard, (b) there's only two of us, and (c) we don't usually have holiday parties or guests.

I do have a couple of totes full of Xmas stuff down in the basement, and I do like lights. So I might get some of those fake candles to go in the windows, but that's about it.

I don't put up the lights anymore. Mainly, because I end up wasting my Easter taking them down.

For those answering "never", are you responding to subby's question, or the question in TFA?

One of my locals had his yard filled with Christmas inflatables, his outdoor lights up with a lighted outdoor xmas tree, and his indoor tree up by the window. All this was up and lit a week before Halloween...and has been every day since.

If you have to ask yourself "Is it too early to put up Christmas decorations?" Then yes, it is too early.