Since we have been talking about Christmas decorations and this long weekend ahead of us, I was wondering about when your ladies and gents get around to decorations ...the who, what, when and why

Should be an interesting topic....I will start it off..........

We always started by watching the Christmas Parade on Thanksgiving morning while the aroma of turkey and stuffing filled the house.

After that, it was the pleasure of decorating right through to the big day itself.....a little here and a lot there......I always had a large family party the beginning of December (to start the holidays rolling) so we got the tree up before then.

The manger was put out but without the baby....and the kings off in the distance.

The mistletoe was hung over the doorways......using only the faux kind after hearing the danger of the live berries...
(check that out if you didn't hear of this before now)

In the ensuing weeks, cookies by the dozens were baked and hidden so that there would some remaining for the gifts and for our own consumption when the time arrived!
I have one son who could pick up the scent of fresh-baked holiday cookies no matter where they were concealed.

The gifts were usually hidden all over the house. I tried to number the gifts 1 thru 4 so that I could just wrap and mark without having to open and see to whom it belonged........

I love the holidays...BUT....since we are now retired snowbirds and retreat to Florida right before or right after Christmas, my decorating has become very minimal .. I now enjoy the decorating labors of my kids and grandkids....

OK, lets read about how you other quilters fix the homestead for the holidays.........

MaryJane

MaryJane

I don't get around to decorating until the middle of Dec.

This year I only have the weekend after Thanksgiving to decorate, we are booked pretty much every other weekend until Christmas and I work full time. So, the tree will go up on Friday with decorations on Saturday. Teh following weekend we are going out of town and the weekend after that I am baking cookies with my mom. I would love to put up even more decorations than I do but DH isn't so fond of finding the little tinsel strands until June! :oops: I swear those things hide!

Saturday my husband will hang lights from every square inch of roofline he can find on the house. Lots and lots of lights.

The kids will want to get out the Christmas dishes this weekend, too.

Some years the tree waits awhile. Some years it goes up right away. We just do whatever.

I will start decorating in the next few days. Need to buy a few lights since I threw my old way away last year.

My son's b-day is in the middled of Dec so I never wanted to take away from his special day. The tree goes up and the house decorated the weekend after his b-day. We celebrate Advent so as of Dec 1 we hang our Advent calendar and the Advent wreath goes on the table. I always use a tablecloth and for the entire month of Dec it's green or red a Christmas color but not Christmas. Advent is a time of prayer and penance. The first thing I do is set up the Nativity set minus Baby Jesus, we wait until very late Christmas Eve or Christmas morning to put Jeaus in the manger. When my kids were little I would write little notes as to where to look to find Jesus, when He was found He went in the manger and there were hot cocoa and cookies waiting. The way people would put a candle in the window when they were expecting someone the lite tree is to light the way for the coming of Jesus. We don't/didn't decorate outside just a simple wreath on the door or window. Christmas is a religious holiday and we focus on that.

I will start on Friday, this is my favorite holiday and I go all out! It takes me at least 3 full days to decorate the inside of the house. Dh takes care of the lights/decor outside.

I have a total of 9 Christmas themed trees to set up throughout the house. A Christmas village on the credenza. Lots of quilts and cross-stitch pieces to hang or drap around. I wrap the staircase with lighted garland. Oh, man...there's so much to do. And my little ones can only do so much (don't want them to break anything).

The lights are hung outside, the wreath is on the door...... (nice weekend in MI had to take advantage of it). No light shall be turned on until Thankgiving evening, tree will go up on Friday, and the rest of the house decorated. Cookies will be baked on the 5th when the grandkids come, and the rest is relax, shop, wrap (and sew) and wait for the 25th!

We already have the tree up and most of the decorations up in the living room and around the house. My favorite movie for this time of year is "A Christmas Story" and we have our leg lamp out in the sunroom in the window, and other movie props will be found around the house.

Since my house was built in the 50's I have the big multi colored lights and they are about half the way on the house. Then I still have the bushes and the yard art to put out. Hopefully I will have it all done by this weekend.

But now its time for me to get in the kitchen and work on the deserts for tomorrow and I will be cooking all night long with maybe 2 hours sleep at the most. But by noon Tomorrow we will be sitting down to eat and enjoy a good meal.

Billy

My husband out out the exterior lights over the past couple of weekends. That's good because it is damp and overcast and ugly now. Plus deer season opens the Monday after Thanksgiving and he is out huntin'. I'll be gradually workig stuff out this weekend and try to have it done by the 10th. We have a big extended family dinner a week before Christmas so I got to get ready early.