As a child, it seemed like the time between the beginning of the school year and the holidays was an eternity. The days, weeks, and months seemed to drag on endlessly as you waited with anticipation for the holidays to finally arrive.
Fast forward 20 years. Now an adult, you’ve come to the realization that once the school year starts, the holidays come and go at warp speed. Whoosh, Happy New Year! If you enjoy the holidays and all the trimmings associated with them, this change in perspective begs the question, “How soon should you start decorating for the holidays?” Well, if you revel in the holiday spirit and enjoy putting your spirit on display, we have some good news. You can start getting your holiday boxes down from the attic or bring them up from the basement because decorating for the holidays can begin in early November.
Decorating Before Thanksgiving
For many people, Thanksgiving traditionally marks the beginning of the holiday season. However, if you’re one of the many people who really get into decorating for the holidays, you’re probably anxious to get some decorations up sooner to maximize the enjoyment. However, putting decorations up too early means you run the risk of being labeled a holiday fanatic (is that a bad thing?). There are ways you can start decorating without going into full-blown holiday mode.
Using clear lights instead of the more traditional multicolored lights can help you make a subtle transition into the holiday season. You can start decorating with clear lights on both the interior and exterior of your home. Hanging some clear lights from your gutters and around windows can set a festive mood without screaming, “the holidays are here!” Depending on the tone you want to set, you can start with a few strands and continue to add more as the holidays get closer, or you can put them all up at once and add more colorful lights later. By the time the holidays do arrive, you’ll have a dazzling light display your family, friends, and neighbors can enjoy.
Related Topic: How to Hang Christmas Lights on Gutters for a Cheery Season
Holiday-Neutral Decorations
You can take the same approach you used for putting up holiday lights and apply it to your decorations. Decorating can start in early fall with some pumpkins, a wreath or two, and fall colors throughout your home (think browns, orange, yellow, and red). A splash of fall colors throughout your home can really set a festive fall mood and serve as a reminder that the holidays are approaching. If you live in a cold climate, gathering some colorful leaves and a few pinecones and placing them around a pumpkin makes a great centerpiece for your fall table.
As the holidays get closer, you can follow the seasonal pattern and transition from fall colors into more traditional holiday colors throughout the house. Once Thanksgiving arrives, you can take your holiday decorating into full gear with colorful lights and decorations, both inside and outside of the house.
Holiday-Specific Decorations
After Thanksgiving it’s, “game on” as far as holiday decorating is concerned. You can start swapping out those pumpkins and fall colors for the more traditional holiday items. As for your holiday lights, you can either swap out your holiday-neutral clear lights for more colorful ones, add some color to the ones you already have, or just leave up what you have and decorate around them. That’s the beauty of decorating a little early with holiday-neutral lighting—you have some options based on your preference and availability. And with so many other things to do during the holidays, you might welcome the opportunity to have a few things already checked off your holiday decorating list.
Related Topic: How to Decorate Your Windows for the Holidays
If you celebrate Christmas, putting up your holiday tree and other holiday-specific decorations right after Thanksgiving is a great way to maximize the enjoyment of the entire holiday season. Since many people start packing holiday items away after the New Year, putting up your decorations on or around Thanksgiving will provide you with two months of solid holiday joy.
Getting It All Done
Although the holidays seem to come and go so quickly, it’s still nice to display your spirit and love for the holidays with decorations. Afterall, when it comes to the holiday, most of us are still kids at heart. But with shopping, wrapping, baking, and so many other things to get done during the holidays, even a relatively small amount of decorating can seem overwhelming. If you love the holidays, but aren’t sure if you have the time to go all out with decorations this year, Window Genie can help decorate your home for the holidays.
