The Griswold Effect

Today's order: Grande Non-Fat, No-Whip, Extra-Hot Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha

Has Christmas come to your neighbourhood yet? It's not out in full force in mine, but it's certainly trickling out at a steady pace. Every day more people have their lights up, and there are lots of trees peeking out of living room windows. It started nearly two weeks ago, believe it or not. I saw the first decorated house in my neighbourhood on November 11th.

Is it just me, or does that seem early to you?

When I was a kid, there was no such thing as decorating for Christmas before at least mid-December. And the tree didn't go up until the 23rd, no matter how much we begged. Now, keep in mind that my family always had a real tree. Artificial trees were considered tacky. And they looked it, too, back in the 70's and 80's. Eeek! And, given that the life span of a real tree is fairly limited, it makes sense to hold off on putting up a real tree until very close to Christmas Day. That way your tree is still fresh, still smells beautiful, and your presents aren't showered in needles when you go to open them.

I suspect that my parents also might not have wanted to put up decorations (and especially the tree) too early with kids in the house. I'm sure that we would have been bouncing off the walls once the decorating was done, asking every 3 seconds when Santa was coming. It would be enough to make your head explode, I'm certain.

To the best of my recollection, we were not the odd ones out in our neighbourhood by not decorating for Christmas until quite late in the game. I think the philosophy was different 30 (OMG, am I that old???) years ago. Christmas happened in December, not immediately after Hallowe'en.

It's obvious that part of the influence now is commercialism. The stores start putting out their Christmas wares at least around Hallowe'en, and often even earlier that that. People are susceptible to that influence, and it makes them want to decorate their homes. I totally get it. I found myself humming Christmas tunes and thinking about decorating my tree in October this year!! If you're like me and you like Christmas, it's hard not to want to get into the spirit as soon as the first signs of Christmas pop up in the neighbourhood stores.

But when is the right time to do it? Is there such a thing as too early? Is there an acceptable date for pulling all those red- and green-topped Rubbermaid bins out of storage and dusting off your Christmas CDs? My sister theorizes that Rememberance Day (November 11th) is a mental check-point for a lot of people. That it's considered socially acceptable to begin celebrating the holiday season after you've acknowledged the sacrifice of veterans. Fair enough. That makes sense, I guess.

For me, it's always been December 1st. I think of Christmas as a December holiday, and therefore I have trouble getting my head around decorating any earlier than that. A full month of Christmas decorations, Christmas music, food, etc. seems like it should be enough. But here I am, still in November, feeling like I'm the neighbourhood slacker because I don't have my Christmas decorations up yet. One woman from preschool (who has entirely too much time on her hands, I'm beginning to think) has her entire house decorated and not one, not two, but 3 (!) trees up and decorated since last week!!! It's no wonder I'm feeling behind on my game!

Is this problem strictly Canadian? I'm thinking that maybe the hub-bub around Thanksgiving in the States keeps the elves at bay... is that true? Do Americans wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas?

Regardless, I think I now have the itch. No, not that kind. Minds out of the gutter, people. I think I'm going to have to dig out those Rubbermaid bins a little earlier this year. Now if I could just scrounge up a few elves to do the work for me...