Let me say, straight off, this is a photo from last year’s tree. I do not decorate until the second week of December.

Christmas is wonderful, magical, full of meaning. To my mind, the season does not start the day after Thanksgiving. I need a little breathing space. I need to take in the end of November, the early days of December, the fading away of Autumn, before I start decorating. For me, the holiday season loses its magic if decorations have been up for weeks by the time Christmas day rolls around.

I also have a major issue with the way merchandisers and advertisers push the season on us earlier and earlier every year. So, as is often the case with me, I dig in my heels and do the opposite of what they want me to do.

I have a feeling many of us base the starting date of Christmas decorating on what our families did when we were young. My parents didn’t decorate until about mid-December. We kept the decorations up through New Year’s Day. As a kid, I really loved the anticipation, the looking forward to that special day when we decorated our home, because it meant that Christmas was about 2 weeks away.

I do the same. We also buy a real tree every year and I want it to last through the holidays. So, we’ll go out this Friday and get our tree. We’ll let it sit for day, give the branches a chance to settle. then we’ll put on our favorite Christmas music and decorate. I may hang the outdoor lights earlier in the week. Maybe.

When my dad was a kid, his family didn’t decorate their tree until Christmas Eve. I know others who decorate right after Thanksgiving. Some choose not to decorate. Variety is the spice of life!

What do you do? Tell me. Have you already decorated? Do you count the days in November until it’s time to decorate for the holidays? Or do you wait? What is your family tradition?