All around me I'm hearing about people starting their holiday decorating. Whether they're buying Christmas trees, getting ready for Hanukkah or celebrating another holiday altogether, it seems like there are a lot of people who look at Dec. 1st as the magic "get ready" date.
As a person who never buys a tree until the middle of December at the earliest, I'm always in awe that there are so many organized souls in the world. If I unearth our advent calendar by Dec. 10th, I figure I'm ahead of the game. And let's not even get into the whole cards/presents/holiday baking thing. I can't even go there until the smell of pumpkin pie is completely gone from my house.
Anyone want to let us in on how you handle this in your home? And one more thing - do many people actually send cards anymore, or is this a dying trend? I'm really curious.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
on your mark, get set...
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I'm not ready yet, either. Don't know if I will be this year!
We travel so much, last year we didn't even decorate.
Horrible, I know!
Maybe I'll do better this year.
I'll try, anyway.
This will be my first Christmas alone. I don't feel much like celebrating it. At least we don't have the tradition here of having to buy presents. I won't put up a tree and I haven't sent any cards yet. I don't think I will really do much celebrating and just let it pass me by this year.
i'm actually almost done shopping because i HATE shopping after thanksgiving. we have a fake tree so that gets set up on thanksgiving day. we are a 'little' behind on the rest of the indoor & outdoor decorations. i DO still send christmas cards out. i find it more personal and it's sad that people have forgotten the fine art of letter writing due to the computer. i actually prefer to get a handwritten letter than an email.
i will say that i'll be glad when the holidays are over!
In England card sending is still a big thing.I should think 60 cards sent and received would be average.
Tree....... well I have a small artificial one. However, the real ones will be on sale for the next few weeks up to Christmas Eve.Not much point in getting one too early else the needles will be shed long before Christmas Day.
Shopping, nearly done. Thank you internet.
Decorations, only the advent calendar.
Cards, send those out in January. Much less hectic and then I know exactly who to send them too. No handwritten note though, no time for that. It is also a postcard with a sticky label letter.
We DO send cards (blast, must get on to that), and it's a real struggle for me to get the tree up early as my parents never do it before December 24th. That's our family tradition - so to go against that just feels wrong. Nevertheless, the kids like it, and it means I get to bake tree biscuits(yum), so I guess I'll just suffer. For their sake, obviously.
I just posted about my lack of christmas spirit a day or two ago, however, I do now have my tree up, I do send cards because we have lots of family and friends we don't see that often. I do think you have to wind up to it though so that you feel in the mood or it is all just a chore. I think some baking is on the agenda today!
I never, ever decorate until December 12th or later due to our lovely daughter's birthday. When she was little, I thought it was important to separate them. Now, I just take advantage of the fact I don't have to think Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.
I have started buying presents, though. Christmas cards have never been a big deal to me. I haven't sent them for years except in response to receiving one, or to far flung friends that I won't see.
We sent a newsletter last year - well, we emailed one to my sister in England, with an address list, and she kindly printed it out and mailed it off. It was mainly to give people our new address.
This year, I'm thinking I really can't be bothered, and of course for us it would be very expensive. We've kind of decided that we'll just have a year off, and it probably won't matter. Next year, we'll have to decide whether to jump back in again, or just not bother. It's a great way of keeping in touch with people you never see, but these days, there are so many other ways of doing that. And is there really any point in sending a card to someone you haven't seen in 15 years?
Last year, we didn't get a tree till a week before Christmas (this is in line with most, though not all, people in Britain). There were hardly any left, and they were half price! That makes it quite a tempting strategy for this year.
Normally by this time I have most of my gifts wrapped and ready to go. For some reason I don't even have my list made this year.
I send usually about 65 cards every year. I am one of those freaks who stays in touch with everyone. Friends from high school to neighbors from my first apartment... it is nice, until christmas time!!!!!!!
I'm even going to make fruit cake this year... just to freak some people out! Good times!!!
Our small fake tree is up. We are still decorating it though at the rate of two ornaments or so a night.
We also bought real wreaths and hung them up on our bed room doors.
That's about it though.
We still need to send out the cards, and bake cookies and ginger bread.
I have been amazed since coming to the UK how many people have their decorations and lights up from the last weekend in November.
This is weird to me. When I was a kid, we decorated and put the tree up on Christmas Eve, ready for the birthday -kind of thing. My memory is that it was considered bad luck to do it before...
Cards yes. But if you are sick one year or don't send someone a card, you quickly find out that it is just a convention for a lot of people....
What I HATE is round robins.... arghhhhhh!
So far I have made the cakes and puddings and bought some of the presents. I haven't done any of the things which need doing first, buying presents for people we are not going to be seeing and writing cards for friends in the Middle East.... so disorganised is how things are over here! Hah!
Hi RC. Sorry I got behind but I'm all caught up now. Sorry you've been having some rough times with Sasquatch but the Thanks Giving sounded good.
We get our Christmas decorations up as soon as December hits. Part of it is because E and M are still little I suppose, but also because I am a sucker for Christmas cheesiness. I still have cards to write and prezzies to wrap though.
xoxoxo
I'm half grinch I think.
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