When does the Christmas season start for you? I used to be a stickler about not starting Christmas until after Thanksgiving. I think that was good when the kids were little- the months of November and December seem so long to them, it would be confusing to take out Christmas decorations on November 1st.
But now, I’ve realized waiting until after Thanksgiving makes no sense for me. Thanksgiving is so late- by the time it’s over, it’s practically December, and then I’m trying to cram everything in. Instead of truly enjoying my favorite season, I feel rushed and frantic.
I’m not saying I’ve decorated the house or anything like that. But I’m taking a page from Nicole and her Tiny Secret Festive Season. I no longer resist Christmas in November! I’m embracing it.
Today I had a very fun trip to the mall. Every year I love browsing through The Container Store’s “Giftwrap Wonderland.”
I didn’t buy anything (for reasons which are coming up) but just looking made me very happy. Then, it was on to Bath and Bodyworks!
This time, I did buy things! The one-wick candles and the hand soap were on sale. According to my daughter, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without the Twisted Peppermint foaming hand soap, and I got two candles:
The soap and candy cane candle will be put away for a couple weeks (we’re still using up our pumpkin soap) but I’ll light the “Leaves” candle right away!
Then I stopped at Sprouts, where I spotted these:
I didn’t get any, because we still have a pumpkin spice creamer in the fridge (note to self- chug that ASAP so I can get the peppermint mocha!)
One thing I’m determined to do this month- and I wrote it in my planner way back in January- is to GO THROUGH THE CHRISTMAS BINS. Last January, I was disgruntled and depressed (I hate when I have to put the Christmas things away) and I just threw things in haphazardly, knowing that I would regret it later. If I can find the time this month, I want to go through them and get more organized, possibly getting rid of some things we don’t use anymore.
I may not get to all of them, but at least I’m going to go through my wrapping paper. I know I bought some last year after Christmas. I CANNOT buy anything new until I see what I have- I can just picture paying full price for something I got on clearance last January. Also, Christmas cards- last week I was looking at cards in Barnes and Noble, picked up a box thinking “Oh, these are cute!” and then had the nagging suspicion that I ALREADY OWN THEM. I distinctly remember buying cards after Christmas last year.
A big thanks to San for hosting NaBloPoMo! Check out this page for a list of participants.
If you celebrate Christmas, are you getting excited yet? Or is it too early?
If you don’t celebrate Christmas, is it SUPER ANNOYING to see Christmas things in all the stores before Halloween?
Top photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
19 Responses
My sitch is that I love Thanksgiving but get a little sad and overwhelmed around Christmas, so that’s why I’m not chomping at the bit for Christmas. My husband’s birthday is right after Thanksgiving, so our official house rule is that we don’t start decorating until after his birthday. Even though I’m not really into seasonal/holiday decorating I do like seeing the decorations. Does Costco need to put out the Christmas stuff in August? No, but I don’t really mind it.
I’m in Canada right now and it’s very interesting to see how different the pre-holiday season is up here. Thanksgiving was in October and I’ve heard Nicole say that the rule is not to start Christmas stuff before Remembrance Day (Nov 11). What I didn’t understand is how big a deal Remembrance Day is. Everyone is wearing red poppies right now. On our side of the border no one makes a big deal about Veteran’s Day. I saw the city setting up some Christmas decorations in Ottawa a few days ago, but I bet they are just installing them and won’t turn them on until after the holiday.
oooooh wrapping paper is my favorite! I love wrapping presents and definitely over think each year’s paper theme
we will start in December 1 as we do the advent calendar for the girls. that’s why the festivities feel real for us.
I wish I have access to those special creamers.
Since society (read shops of whatever type) starts with Christmas before Halloween is even over, why not embrace it! I have a rule to not start any decoration or Christmasy treats until December because I like to keep each season special and not mish-mash them – but in November I usually start adding Christmas flavours (cardamom, cinnamon etc) to my coffee. Not so much this year because we still have very mild temperatures and it still feels too much like a nice autumn rather than winter weather.
You’d be seriously disappointed spending pre-Christmas time here in South Africa, Jenny! There’s barely a hint of festivity — maybe a few Christmassy biscuit tins lurking in aisle 3, and that’s about it. I’m sure things will pick up a bit in the next few weeks, but it never comes close to the full-on show you get in the US!
I love Christmas, but I find all the decorations and music and expectations to get overwhelming/stifling if I have too much of them… so I definitely wait until December 1 to start being Christmassy. This year, I am still feeling pretty anti-holiday-spirit, so I am trying to breathe in the joy from you and Nicole so I’ll be ready to be festive come December 1!
I used to be a ‘after Thanksgiving ’ person. Then in 2020 when I was very pregnant and just kind of depressed about the state of the world, I put our tree up in mid-November and now that is when it happens every year. I need the glow of the tree during these dark, cold months of the year! The kids are asking about Christmas already anyways so whether we have a tree up or not, it’s on their minds. We don’t put gifts under the tree until very close to Christmas because it’s just too tempting for them. But I love all the decorations! And I say this as a person whose favorite holiday is Thanksgiving! I just like to have the glow of my tree during that celebration season ;).
I have not done any shopping, though. We started to make a list. We are quite minimalistic about gift giving, though, so I don’t need to shop super early. One thing I’m doing this month that I’m very excited about is going to the grinch at the children’s theater with Paul. Taco opted not to go as he said he’s afraid of the grinch now. Which is so odd as he used to watch the movie every weekend for months!!
I bought my first Christmas presents last weekend – woop! I would normally already be decorating (I do it slowly, so the whole apartment wouldn’t be fully decked out until closer to Thanksgiving), but I’ve been focused on unpacking and settling into my new space. But I may pull out my bin of holiday pillows this weekend and swap them out for something lightly festive!
I love Christmas and bring little things out each day over a series of days/weeks. (My daughter fully decorated her room this weekend and if she’s in the car with me she insists on listening to Christmas music). That said, I can start to feel oversaturated with it all.
Mostly what I like are twinkle lights since it’s so dark in the evenings. So I plan to have my daughter decorate our mantle this weekend. The tree will go up…mid/late November? This year we have an artificial tree, which means we can put it up so much earlier!! It’s not the same as a real tree, but there are some VERY big perks.
I’m planning to put up my Christmas tree next weekend because I’ll be at my parents’ house Thanksgiving weekend, and then I’m off work the week of Christmas and the week of New Year’s and will also be out of town then, so I want to enjoy the tree as long as possible! But I don’t start listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving because I’d get tired of it after two months, and I actually like to listen to it through New Year’s Day.
I also ordered holiday scents from Bath & Body Works and can’t wait for them to arrive! I agree with your daughter — it’s not Christmas without the twisted peppermint hand soap!
I’ve never been to the Container Store pre-Christmas and their wrapping paper lane is impressive. We are wait till December people over here. I do agree that getting things out earlier makes sense, since everything gets taken down in the blink of an eye. Part of the reason we don’t decorate early is time – basketball season starts in November and I spend November into early December (always wishing I’d started earlier) working on my Christmas poem/card. When I get busy, the last thing I have time for is decorating. With kids away at college, we sometimes wait till we get one or all of them home to go get our tree. No one really cares though – and we’ve run into issues with slim pickings, so I think we’ll get that earlier this year.
Now that I have a grandchild, it feels more like Christmas. She is the only one I will buy for.
I wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate and it’s mostly snowmen.
I do love peppermint everything and will get to Starbucks soon. And also buy that creamer.
It starts after Thanksgiving, although there are annoying things I have to do (grumpily and begrudgingly) before Thanksgiving. Sometimes I hear people ask why it bothers us non-early starters if everyone gets started early. Here’s why. It screws with the shopping season. On October 26, I needed Halloween supplies, but all the store had was Christmas stuff. That is NOT helpful. Right now I need Thanksgiving stuff (napkins, candles) and all I have is Christmas stuff. I guess I needed to buy Thanksgiving decor in July? Also, honestly, I’m already sick of the two dozen Christmas songs that get played. If they honestly were only played between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, I would be fine.
So, yes, I’m feeling particularly miserly and grinchy this year for various reasons, but I will stick to this. Our tree will not be up before Thanksgiving. We will not be listening to Christmas music on our road trip this weekend. And I will be silently seething each time I go to the store and we’ve leapfrogged multiple holidays to get to Christmas.
End soapbox. I truly do hope you enjoy your Secret Festive Season. I bet you wish you had kept it secret from me! (I really am a nice person. I swear. I’m fun. I laugh. I just feel so much stress over Christmas and it’s one day and all the other days get skipped over.)
I’ve made it a point to never let myself start thinking about Christmas decorations and celebrations or do anything along those lines before the 4th of July, and so far I’ve been able to hold strong on that commitment. (takes a bow)
As much as I do get into the season, though, I’ve always felt like waiting until Thanksgiving to be the right thing to do and there’s a nice transition point between the holidays too.
Yay, festivities! Thanks for the shout-out!
For years I would pick up a three-pack of holiday wrap at Costco, and then get home to discover I still had 2 1/2 rolls left from before. This led to a scenario in which I am not sure if I’ll ever have to buy holiday wrap again in my lifetime. Things snowballed, let’s put it that way. So I am NOT buying wrap.
Also, I get annoyed when people get annoyed at other people celebrating early/ early Christmas displays. Like, how is that tree hurting anyone? IT IS NOT.
Did my comment get sent to spam? I swear I already commented on this post. Let me know.
Ohh–that bit about buying things at the post-Xmas sales and then forgetting about them is so real… thanks for the reminder.
Happy tiny, secret, festive season to you too, Jenny!
The kids and I went into the city yesterday and oh my gosh, it al ALL decked out! Macys at Herald square is BEAUTIFUL! The windows are not ready but the garlands, stunning. The tree is not up yet but on thanksgiving they put it up.
I am excited. I want to approach Christmas with a thoughtful attitude. Like, have a budget. Some ideas for meaningful gifts. I wanna decide how I wanna feel in this season. Maybe I’ll put this all into a blog post 😉
Well, I am in disagreement here but I am fighting a loosing battle even in Germany. Sigh.
Christmas is not until Christmas Day. Before its Advent. And that starts Four Sundays prior to Christmas this year falling on November 30ths. And that is one I accept cookies and decorations.
I know Americans have always been a bit different and early but November…
Anyways, I hope we are still friends. Enjoy your season and make the best of it.