Holiday Decor

sleepy33

When do you decorate for Christmas/winter holiday of choice?

sleepy33

I'm way bored y'all. Entertain me with your holiday decor schedule.

missy052819

We're going to put our tree up this weekend. I want to be able to enjoy my 4 day weekend (next week) relaxing.

eatinwatermelonseeds

I said the day after Thanksgiving but my laziness usually makes it December 1st. I'd decorate now if we weren't set to move before Christmas. Would probably improve my mood. 

sleepy33

@eatinwatermelonseeds I'm so in the same boat. I'd really love to be in a new place before Christmas. I definitely don't wanna put up a tree in our tiny rental house. I might string some lights on the porch railing outside. BUT, last year, we moved in November and I was insanely busy with a December fundraiser and hadn't got around to decorating. DS got big crocodile tears and told me santa wouldn't come to our house if it wasn't decorated. So of course, I dropped everything to put up the tree and make a bunch of paper decorations to put up around the house. IDK if he will sucker me into that again this year or not. 

sleepy33

@missy052819

eatinwatermelonseeds

@sleepy33 oh my goodness. I would probably cry. They just know how to tug on your heart strings don't they? 

sleepy33

@eatinwatermelonseeds I'm sure I probably did, he definitely hit me right in the gut. Maximum mom guilt activated lol. 

DuchessOfCambridge

We don't celebrate any winter holidays but winter is my favorite season so I will be doing seasonal-but-not-holiday decor after Thanksgiving

k2k2tog

We don't have Thanksgiving as a marker. It's important to me to wait until at LEAST after Remembrance Day, which was on Sunday, so we can start any time. Maybe I'll do some this weekend? We have two mantles that I was to get Christmas-ified. We're thinking about doing a real tree this year, but I'll still put up our fake tree soon since we have the space for two trees. And then wait until December for the real tree so it doesn't die too much before Christmas.

eatinwatermelonseeds

@k2k2tog you know, a while back I had a friend post something (she was Canadian so now it makes sense) saying that it was disrespectful to put up Christmas decorations before Veteran's day. Which honestly made no sense to me. But you calling it remembrance day (and me looking up a Canadian calendar 😂) actually made it make more sense. In the US, we have Veteran's day the same day as your Remembrance day. It celebrates mostly living veterans and current service members, we get discounts and free food most places here that day. We also have, which the Canadian calendar I looked at showed you do not, Memorial day (in late May) that is used to remember fallen service members. It all makes so much sense now lol. 

Sorry, long novel for no reason. 

k2k2tog

@eatinwatermelonseeds yes, Remembrance Day focuses on the suffering and sacrifice made by many for the freedom and peace we have, while also focusing on those who continue to work for peace today. November 11th is Armistice Day, so there's often a lot of focus on WW1 and WW2, with poppies and Flanders Fields. This year was 100 years since Armistice Day, so there was extra focus on WW1. I've got a ton of American FB friends from my last BMB, so it's been interesting, over the past couple years, to see the differences in the holidays.

We have Victoria Day around the time you have Memorial Day, I believe. May 24th, "the May 2-4" Queen Victoria's birthday, a three day weekend set aside for the explicit purpose of drinking as many 2-4s of beer in as short a time as possible. 

eatinwatermelonseeds

@k2k2tog that's pretty much what happens on Memorial day weekend, too. Which is sad. I feel like the purpose is completely lost. I also think people often confuse veteran's day and memorial day so veterans day they think of the suffering and sacrifice of fallen service members and memorial day they have bbqs and get drunk. 

peachy13

Just last year I bought Thanksgiving decor so that my house didn't look sad between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I really love it! Pumpkins, leaves, turkeys, etc. It is actually really nice. I just can't be Christmas-y before Thanksgiving.

mcewen3

Like @k2k2tog I typically wait until after Remembrance Day.  This year will likely be minimal.  Outside lights hopefully going up this week sometime while the weather is nice.  I don't actually have any of my holiday decor where we are living right now, it is all in storage.  But DH's mom has tons so I'll pull out some of her stuff this year.  We are beginning the process of buying his parents' house (we haven't found anything else in town that we like and his parents wanted to downsize anyways) and have been living with them while we waited to hear about DH's job so its all kind of a mess.  I think they've found a place and will move out Dec. 1 but we have SO much stuff to go through.  They're house was already pretty full before we moved in, and we brought along as little as we could but lets be real, it ended up being a fair bit of stuff.  I'm pretty sure I'll be spending most of my time purging stuff around the house and not so much time decorating for Christmas.  

kaycald

I decorated the day before Halloween. Lmao! Sad, I know.. This is our 2nd Christmas in our first home and I was just too excited. If anyone wants to follow my home decor page feel free.. It is @ourfarmhousetownhome. I haven't posted my Christmas decor yet tho.

kbeers13

Just to throw in my two cents on Veteran's and Memorial days, both of my grandpas have now passed after having long lives and had served in the military early in their lives. One grandpa is buried within Riverside National Cemetery, a cemetery that is dedicated to only veterans who have been honorably discharged after serving a minimum requirement within the US armed forces.

I paid my respects to my grandpas this weekend and was emotionally overwhelmed to find that the veteran cemeteries put flags at every head stone. It was truly beautiful. 

In addition, this morning I found out that December 15th is Wreaths Across America Day where volunteers can lay wreaths for veterans where they've been laid to rest. I have signed up to volunteer since I'm available and you can come and go as you please as a volunteer. I've provided a link for anyone who may be interested so you can see if there are any cemeteries that participate near you. www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/ 

kvh22

We don't get vetran's day off for work although schools are closed (the library was open, which it usually isn't for Monday holidays). It's weird coming from the northeast to California (at least the Bay Area) where they don't seem to care much for the contributions of our military members. I'm making generalizations, of course, but Memorial Day in New England, while being the kick-off to summer because it's a long weekend at the end of May, is still very much about honoring those who have served and lost their lives IMO.

eatinwatermelonseeds

@kbeers13 they also do the flags on memorial day. It's beautiful. If you have a particular interest in volunteering for veterans, I highly recommend looking into opportunities to help living veterans as well. There is SUCH a high rate of homelessness, poverty, and substance abuse among this population. Obviously these are issues in all populations but it seems sometimes that we discharge from the military and we're on our own. Yes, there are a lot of benefits for veterans but there is still a large disconnect. I think you just helped me figure out what I want to do this year. 

kbeers13

@kvh22 yeah, I've grown up in Southern California and none of my schools growing up really focused on any thankfulness to the military which is horrible now that I look back. I want my future kids to focus on the realization of the real holiday and have some fun once you've paid respects. 

chloe97

The weekend before Thanksgiving because we are out of town for Thanksgiving this year. I like to start my holidays off as early as socially acceptable and I feel like the weekend before thanksgiving is just on the line. 😂

sleepy33

kbeers13 said:

@kvh22 yeah, I've grown up in Southern California and none of my schools growing up really focused on any thankfulness to the military which is horrible now that I look back. I want my future kids to focus on the realization of the real holiday and have some fun once you've paid respects. 

I grew up in Kansas and we never did anything involving vets or the military, other than obviously when we studied various wars in history classes. TBH, I'm ok with that. It doesn't really feel like something that's the school's job to me for some reason? IDK

eatinwatermelonseeds

I went to high school in New England and every veteran's day and memorial day they did a slide show of graduates who joined the military as well as fallen soldiers. There was an entire assembly dedicated to both holidays. Having assemblies didn't make me understand the holidays more, so I guess it doesn't really matter what the schools do, it's more on parents to educate their children about it. It's a difficult topic to approach, though. The reality of both holidays, of men and women putting their families second to service to their countries, going to foreign countries and watching their friends die, waking up to bombs every morning for months to a year or longer, suffering from PTSD, losing limbs, and even dying, is just a lot to explain to kids. 

robyn2201

Maybe the it’s just on a school by school basis thing re teaching about Veterans Day and the military? My girls had it off, but I never did growing up. Both came home on Friday talking about veterans and the military.

DD1 did her yearly program last year, in 2nd grade, about the military and they sang songs including the Armed Services Medley. And they went on a field trip to an air museum at the reserve base nearby. 

brie_and_almonds

DD1's birthday is Dec. 1, so I always wait until after her birthday so it doesn't feel overshadowed by Christmas.

kvh22

@robyn2201 a field trip like that would be pretty cool!

@sleepy33 I don't recall doing to much about it in school. I think it's just more of an awareness that is lacking in some areas. But as others have mentioned, doing something in school could spark conversation at home that might be valuable. I don't necessarily think it should be the school's responsibility either but if you get the day off, completely ignoring it also seems weird.

3 of my 4 grandparents served in the military and my uncle did 4 years, my FIL did 22 and was the only one of all 5 mentioned who was deployed during war time (which he doesn't talk much about). I feel like as generations go on, people will know fewer veterans personally and it will be discussed less and less. FIL is 75 so DD and this LO will not get too long with him in great health, certainly not into adulthood like I did with 3/4 of my grandparents. 

Anyways, Happy Belated Veterans' Day, @eatinwatermelonseeds. Thank you for everything you've done (and your husband) and for educating us, now.

sleepy33

@kvh22 yeah, none of the schools around here are off for the day. They do put flags out up and down most of the major streets. 

sleepy33

@eatinwatermelonseeds those were my thoughts, too. Plus, and this may just be my circle, but a lot of people I know have issues with the war/are pacifists, etc, so explaining their views and how you can support and honor vets even if you don't support the war, etc, is again a complex and private thing. I know the school I work for had an assembly Monday with a few alumni who are vets that came to speak, but it was on the upper campus and I didn't make it over there to hear what all was said. I wish I had, cause now I'm very curious. 

eatinwatermelonseeds

@kvh22 with the current war, I don't think it'll be as rare to know a veteran, especially one who has seen war. But it's not something those who have seen it want to talk about. My husband deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 for a year and he doesn't talk about it. He once had me watch a documentary called Restrepo and told me that was where he was (not during filming, but I believe he went there the following year and it was just as terrifying). It might be different because of my circle. I have SEVERAL friends who joined after high school, all of my uncles, my mother (2 branches), my father, both of my grandfathers, my mil and fil, two of DHs brothers. 

I hope my children never join the military. 

chloe97

@eatinwatermelonseeds I hate to say it, but I think it’s more common to join the military in certain areas of the country than others. I grew up in rural WI and was on the college fast track, but was called by army recruiters at least once a month my senior year. DH who grew up in suburban Chicago looked at me like I had 2 heads when I asked him how many times the army recruiters had called him. They don’t recruit where I live now bc these rich suburban school districts send like 97% to college. I would say 10-15% of my graduating class joined the military and bc I graduated in 97- MOST got out before 9/11. I did have a few friends join as officers after college and they were all deployed. But most were doing cushy things and never saw combat. My brother who graduated in 2002 had a ton more kids join the military from his class than I did.

On on the other hand, DH did not have a single classmate in his class of 700 who joined the military after college. His high school probably draws from one of the richest area in Chicago area, so that tells you all you need to know. If you come from privilege, grew up in rich areas, and went to a college with kids with similar backgrounds, it’s not at all unlikely you would not know any veterans.

eatinwatermelonseeds

@chloe97 that makes a lot of sense. If I hadn't been poor, with terrible grades, no health insurance and no way to pay for college, I probably wouldn't have joined. I've had a lot of opportunities I never would have had I not joined, but for someone with opportunities already open to them, it is a lesser quality of life and they would make a ton more money on the outside. If they could pay for college, they don't need that from the military, or the housing benefits, the steady income or other benefits open to the military. My quality of life would've been so much worse had I never joined the military, though I still wish I hadn't just so I didn't have to experience some of the things I had. I hope to be able to build a life for my children so that they don't feel the military is their only option. Especially my daughter if I have one. 

chloe97

@eatinwatermelonseeds I’m sorry you had to experience the things you did though I greatly admire you for choosing the military. It’s certainly not a coward’s choice. 

It it does make me sad though that our society is set up this way- poor people basically have to choose to put their lives on the line and threaten their future mental health to be able to have the same  opportunities that others are simply born into. You should be so proud of what you’ve accomplished!

kvh22

@chloe97 I agree. I went to a private high school (born into those opportunities you mention) and 4 people went to military academies but no one else joined the military (we had 100% of our class of ~225 go on to 4 year colleges). One of my brother and DH's friends went into the marines right after HS (he went to a different school) but he's the only person I know who wasn't via the academies and he did his 4 years and got out. DH, on the other hand, has always been a civilian but has worked in the military sector for 10 years so knows tons of active and retired military.

@eatinwatermelonseeds I'm sorry if your circumstances made that seem like the only option but agree with @chloe97, it's an admirable choice.

sleepy33

Welp, this thread took a fascinating, yet insightful turn 

eatinwatermelonseeds

@sleepy33 SORRY! Totally my fault 🙈😂

RoseShadow873

I went to school in the Pacific Northwest and they did quite a bit for Veteran's Day and things like that. My dad is buried at a veteran cemetery and they have the flags on all the graves for holidays too, and my mom always says it's the boy scouts that do it but I can't confirm if it's true.

I decorate for Christmas on November 30.

sleepy33

@eatinwatermelonseeds no it's good! I was bored and this was interesting, so mission accomplished with entertaining and educating me this afternoon 

mrskoz428

I was going to wait until next weekend, and I normally do because my mom’s birthday is always around Thanksgiving and she’s a “one holiday at a time” person. But this yet, I’m really in the Christmas spirit. I’m a hunting widow this weekend so will probably decorate this weekend!

wishiwaspreggo

I usually decorate right after Thanksgiving but I'm hopping on a plane to go to Disney World so... we'll decorate the weekend after we're back!

Fun story: I told my 3 year old son it would be Christmas as soon as the first snow comes (because it hardly ever snows in November) and we're supposed to get significant snowfall tonight. I don't know how I'm going to explain we have to wait longer for Santa to come when he sees the white landscape tomorrow morning.

sleepy33

wishiwaspreggo said:

I usually decorate right after Thanksgiving but I'm hopping on a plane to go to Disney World so... we'll decorate the weekend after we're back!

Fun story: I told my 3 year old son it would be Christmas as soon as the first snow comes (because it hardly ever snows in November) and we're supposed to get significant snowfall tonight. I don't know how I'm going to explain we have to wait longer for Santa to come when he sees the white landscape tomorrow morning.

LOL it's snowed twice here in the last week (it also never snows here before Thanksgiving) and all he can talk about is it's Christmas soon. I'm like whooooaaaa, slow down there bucko. 

eatinwatermelonseeds

It isn't even snowing here and every day my son tells me "mom! Christmas is tomorrow!"