When do you start decorating for Christmas, if you celebrate it?

Do you have a garage at all?
I use an extension cord from my garage for my outdoor lights.
I also have a thing that screws into the light socket that has plugs for cords out front in my porch light.
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB!!~

We use extention cords as well. Our living room window faces our balcony and it's easy to take the screen off the window, run the cord outside and then seal the window up with tape and a small hand towel to keep the draft out. For the bush lights, we run the same thing out of our spare bedroom window. That window is around the corner from our bushes and it's easy to run the cord outside and then light up the bushes with clear lights. I think this year we may switch to colored lights and have the clear lights on the tree.=)

I've lived in houses with no outside outlets. I just run an extension cord outside from a door or window, like everyone else here is saying. Actually, we only have one outdoor outlet on our house now; on the back deck.

Luckily, we have electricity in our pavilion. I'm planning on decorating that this weekend. I put a fake tree up on our deck last year so the neighbors could see it because I didn't have the time or energy to decorate the pavilion last year. The pavilion is in a very central spot on our property and the communal road runs right by it. That's why I want to decorate it this year. My son is coming over this weekend to help me put the lights up. I might wait for the tree until after Thanksgiving, though. That's just a little TOO obvious! LOL

I'd love to have the last two weeks before Christmas to bake. I have so much to bake, too! I am the matriarch of the family, the baker of the cookies and cakes and candies. I need both time AND energy! LOL

The two weeks before that I want for wrapping gifts and putting up last-minute decorations. Just once, I want to "do it up right"!

I used to start after Thanksgiving, too. Now that my health isn't as good as it used to be, I want to get an earlier start so I can get everything done without feeling rushed at the end. I won't be turning the lights on until maybe two or three weeks before Christmas, though.

Taking them all down is another story! I'll get to it when I get to it, I guess. You do it when you can and I can remember all too well what it was like when I worked full time!

I definitely decorated more inside when my children were younger! They loved all the fuss and sparkle. I'm actually looking forward to the day I have grandchildren! I hope it happens one day. I keep hinting to my sons! LOL

Take care, Chevee!

That's so smart, Grandpa! Doing it before it gets too cold... I LOVE that idea! That's part of the reason I'm doing mine early, too. The other part is because it takes me so long to do anything these days that I want to get as much out of the way so I can enjoy every moment of the holiday season.

You know when the best time to buy new decorations is? Right after Christmas! LOL That's when I scoop up more for the following year. Usually not much, just wrapping paper, ribbon and stuff like that but, last year, I planned ahead and bought those icicle lights for our pavilion while they were 75% off. I didn't have time to decorate the pavilion last year and we just moved here last year. I knew I'd want to decorate it this year so I was lucky enough to find enough of them at that price!

I'd LOVE to be able to drive by your house and oooh and aaaah at your lights! They have a wonderful way of putting people into the spirit of Christmas! If you do put more up, please share the pictures with us! I, for one, would LOVE to see them!

All the icicle lioghts in my photo I added here were bought the
26th last year at 50 cents each. Normally I think they were like $8
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB!!~

We're planning on doing more this weekend, too, as long as the weather cooperates! They were calling for snow for Saturday earlier this week. I hope that's changed!

You'll be helping to get people into the holiday spirit for sure, kylie, by having those lights on! I always get more an more anxious about Christmas coming when I start to see the outdoor decorations going up!

Share pictures if you can!

Same with me! I've seen some Christmas lights up all year and I ALWAYS think the same thing! They don't turn them on so why have them up? Wouldn't they kinda get dry rot or something by being exposed to the cold of the winter, then the heat of the summer? Okay, in YOUR case, just a lot of heat?

Our tree is usually almost the last thing to go up because it dries out so fast inside the house. We'll buy one early but keep it in the garage so it doesn't dry out. Even with daily watering, those things get so brittle so fast!

I had a fake tree for years because my youngest son had terrible allergies (13 of them but 5 years of allergy shots helped him out SOOO much!). It was a nice fake tree, but still... geesh. We'd put that one up early because, no matter how hard we tried, it just wouldn't dry out!

With my energy level being much lower than it used to be and my husband always so busy with work, I'm just trying to get some things done early so it doesn't all bunch up the closer to Christmas that we get.

I have a lot of other things going on, too (hand-made Christmas presents), so I do what I can when I can. I'm working on a knitted blanket for my oldest son, as well as some bas relief pictures for family members... actually, OF family members! LOL So, I sneak in whatever I can whenever I can as far as decorating goes.

Hmmm... living in Puerto Rico, gee, that's something I have a hard time with... Christmas is supposed to be cold! LOL So, you'll be decorating your palm trees? I hadn't thought of that but I suppose it WOULD be kind of hard to picture if you've never done it before! Good luck!

Well, Christmas should be cold for Santa but down here it's probably more the Three Wiseguys from the East, so palm trees are suitable, don't you think? Besides, you gotta do with you got! So what if instead of snow we have foamy ocean waves and instead of a sleighw e have a BOAT!

I know exactly what you're talking about! We moved here last year and bought all new furniture for the living room. It was so hard trying to decide where to put the tree! We have a bay window and I've always wanted to put my tree in a bay window so passers-by could see it, but it just doesn't work right there! Maybe, with some finagling, both you and I can come up with the perfect spot!

I bought a bunch of new lights right after Christmas last year! I just couldn't resist those sales! LOL Actually, I wanted to decorate the pavilion since before Christmas last year but didn't have the time or energy. THIS year, I planned ahead and bought the lights at 75% off.

It's good to know we won't be needing more lights this year (you, too). With the economy the way it's been, even with the price of gasoline going down, money is tight!

Well, take care! Post some pictures if you can!

My mother had a tradition of putting the tree up on Christmas Eve! I honestly don't know how she did it... I'm always either so busy on Christmas Eve or so darned tired! LOL

But, that was when I was a kid. Later, after she married my step-father, they'd decorate right after Thanksgiving, too. It took him that long just to put the lights on their tree! He was a mechanical and electrical engineer... he measured EVERYTHING, including the distance between every single light on the tree! He would have driven me nuts! LOL I just kind of throw 'em up there, turn them on and rearrange them until they look "right".

Your son sounds like my youngest son did at that age! I lived through it, you probably will, too. LOL

Christmas is my favorite holiday, as well! I LOVE to decorate. When I was young, we'd decorate about a week before, too. The tree went up on Christmas Eve.

I just have so much to do and so little energy to do it that I do what I can when I can so I won't be rushed the closer Christmas gets. If there's one thing I refuse to do it's get upset or stressed out during the holidays!

I don't do that much decorating, either. I think I'll be doing more this year than ever before but that's only because we've never had a pavilion before! LOL

I've seen houses that were featured in the newspaper or on TV. They had so many lights up that they actually caused traffic jams from people driving by to see them! They actually lit up the entire area! It's nice to see them but I sure wouldn't want to do that myself!

I kinda like seeing some decorations going up early. It makes me happy when I realize that Christmas is coming, even if it's early in November. I'm not too happy that all the stores put out everything they have as far as Christmas goes so early, even going so far as to have Christmas music playing before Thanksgiving! Maybe some things are okay, but, man! It's like half the stores are already dedicated to Christmas stuff!

Oh, well. Nothing I can do about it so I might as well enjoy it, huh?

That's wonderful! My son is going to help me this year. He's finally living close enough so that he can. My other son has always lived close by but he has weird working hours. He'll probably help, too, but not as much as my youngest son.

I'm sure the majority of my decorating will take place in December. I just want to get the little things out of the way so I can concentrate on other things. I make a lot of gifts and some of them take time!