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With only 3 weeks to go until December, when do you start planning your Christmas stuff??
We have a new tree on layby which we pick up the last week of November and Cards normally get sent out the first week!!
Our tree and lights (including outside) normally go up around first week of December aswell.
We have been using the same tree for the last 7 years LOL. I don't even bother taking the decorations off - I just put a big garbage bag over it to keep the dust off LOL how slack am I! When I get it out I do tidy it up and rearrange them, but mostly we are pretty slap happy. I don't do Christmas cards - I just ring people and have a catch up. As for other decorations around the house I just don't bother much because DH hates Christmas with a passion and can't stand decorations everywhere, so we keep it to a minimum. Plus we have 12ft ceilings in this house and it is impossible to get them up anyway.
My tree is supposed to go up TODAY !!!
The Christmas Pagent came to town this morning and that is when I usually deck the house out, bit of a tradition for alot of SA families to put the tree up the day the pagent comes to town. Unfortunately for us though we don't have a ladder here atm so I can't get into the roof to get my tree down ARGH. I still have 2 sets of lights up from last year LOL.
Sherie I like your idea of the plastic bag over the tree I'd do that if our tree wasn't 8ft tall LMAO, and heaps wide LOL.
Cards I have been really slack with the last couple of years. If they need to be posted then they usually don't get sent LOL.
Love
LOL Kathryn, our tree is only 4ft tall, so pretty easy to cover. If I put up our tree this early - Dh would drop dead of a heart attack LMAO.
We always put our tree up on the 1st of December, and start the girls' advent calendars. I love it!!! I take photos of my girls dressed in red, and send them to family and friends. This year I'm going to put a magnet on the back so they can stick the photo to the fridge.
I also buy a new special decoration each year, and write the year on it somewhere. I started that in 1994.
We've decied not to put the tree up until after Lily's birthday, which is 11th Dec. So still got 5 weeks until we can do that (geez thats come up quick!) Went to buy christmas cards the other day but couldn't find any nice ones, so will have to go looking else where. Planning on buying lights and decorations for outside too. Getting rather excited and can't wait!
Tree will go up on 1st December here... we still only have a small tree.. its about 1m tall, with those fibre optic lights. When Aidyn gets older we will upgrade to a bigger one - maybe next year.
I have bought cards already to send out, nice big value pack of them, as I have so many to send out this year! ;)
DP wants the house decorated more 'Christmasy' this year, so I will have to look around for some more nice stuff to put up...
I love Christmas and would start now if I could. But DH prefers me to wait until December. I get pretty cranky if he doesn't let me "do my thing" on the first weekend of December! But this year we aren't doing anything special and will be lucky to put a tree up :( We normally get a real tree but I want a "fake" one so I don't have to keep chopping down trees! And since we can't agree on a tree..... but since DH is going away in early Jan leaving me to take everything down again (and he wouldn't be impressed if it was all still up at the end of Jan!) and I will be resembling Santa Clause by then, I can't see us putting much up. NEXT YEAR however will be completly different!
Chrissy cards always get done after exams...
MG
Jazmum I do the ornament thing too and just got mine yesterday for this year. All of my boys have had a baby's 1st xmas ornament the year they are born and so got Ashton one yesterday :)
We started doing it in 96 the first year in our house, but I have done it with mum for many years prior to that, can't remember the first one hers dates back too.
Love
Sherie - You're a genius! My tree is only 4 feet tall and every year we go through the palaver of arguing whether the tinsel or the lights go on first! Looks like we'll be getting the garbage bag out come January!!
First weekend of December, we break out the mince pies and german ginger bread, put the carols on, and deck the halls. I have so many deccies now we can practically choose a colour theme each year *LOL* and I also go candle shopping for some lovely scented candles in the chosen colour. Chrissy cards are always a mad rush as I have friends and loved ones in every state (comes with being a highly mobile family)! Roll on December, I love it all! :)
Kat our tree goes up today as well!! Definately an SA tradition - pity they keep moving the pageant forward each bloody year LOL! Just about to put it up now!
I'm going to try and make my own Christmas Cards this year so hopefully will have them out and sent by the beginning of December - well that is the plan any way! I am going to get Emerson's first christmas decoration made up with his name and the year. Then from next year he can choose a new decoration each year!
Nup have to have paris' birthday before we do our tree here. I normally do it first weekend of December.
CAN'T WAIT! I love tree & decoration traditions...
*hugs*
Cailin
lol, i dont even put up a Xmas tree half the time.
We do have one, tucked away somewhere (dont remember where!) with all the decorations still on it from a previous year.
My sister is obsessed with the tree at Mums house and goes over there specially for a day to put the tree up and decorate it. I'm just too lazy.
Lights go up next weekend, Tree goes up second weekend in December.Family photo is on 15th November just in time for the cards.
Ours will go up at the start of December too, possibly on the 1st. I lurrvveee Christmas, and with Maddy's 1st birthday on Christmas Eve it will particularly special this year. I bought a great 6f tree & decorations last year so I can't wait to put it up this year.
Have tons of Christmas cards ready to go this year - bought them last year with the intention of filling them out in hospital after having Maddy. She decided to come late so there was no time to do them and send them out! *LMAO* Will probably do the chrismas cards in the next two weeks so i can send them out at the beginning of December.
Guess I know where the play pen is going! *L*
1st December for us. I love decorating the tree and the house. Chelsea is far more excited about it this year than previous years. We also have the tradition of letting her select a decoration to go on the tree. We have had some very strange the past 2 years, so who knows what she will pick this year LOL!!!
For those that do avent calendars, what age did you start doing them? Chelsea is nearly 4 and we find it difficult to explain to her that Santa isn't coming right now. Would she understand better if we introduced one?
My DH would turn into Clark Griswald (Christmas Vacation movie) if I let him! So he can put up some outdoor lights, but I am sure the whole house would be covered if he had the chance.
Xmas cards I generally send out first or second week. Would like to try to do homemade ones with the kids but that might be pushing it!
I'm a bit of a Grinch at Christmas time :eek:
I think it is a type of post taumatic stress disorder from working retail over Christmas for too many years.
Last year I had Chrismas day at my house and spent the morning peeling spuds between shocking bouts of morning sickness.
I don't put up my tree and decorations till a couple of days before, but this year I'll try to get into it a bit earlier for the sake of the kids ;)
I don't have a "time" I put the tree up...it's usually oooh it's getting close should put the tree up huh! I'm a bit worried about it this year though - furbaby cat's first christmas and I'm not sure if he'll try to chew the lights on the tree or climb it or what. My friend's mum though, November and the WHOLE house is completely decked out right down to the front door mat which plays carols when you step on it. She's the biggest christmas fan I've ever met in my life!!
Our tree and decorations will go up on the 1st too. Considering decorating the outside of the house for once too. Getting very excited over here, I'm sure it will be hell though, I expect between Jonah and Dougal (cat) the tree will be laying down most of the time instead of standing.
LOL Bec..think ours will be the same.
We put ours up on the 1st of December too..yeeehar...cant wait!
Jo
Well our tree usually goes up on pagent weekend, but have been too busy and DH is sick. We go full on. Our tree is covered with stuff and i refuse to have tinsel, I always had cheap n tacky stuff as we had no money when i was young so i bought really nice things to use. Plus tinsel isnt good for cats. Ozzie, dont worry, our cats poo just ends up a bit glittery sometimes, if hes been eating the glittery ballballs. Holly wreath on the door.
We have all the lights on the windows and have fairy lights around the place. It looks pretty spectacular as we dont have any street lights were we live.
DH told me last year we couldnt buy things at the sales...haha guess who had a trolley full of xmas things! LOL so lots of new things to open and put up.
Plenty of cards to send, but am thinking of doing some of my own photography and making some. I spent ages making cards last year using lots of scrapbooking. I suaully put some in the courier at work so I dont have to pay postage!
I guess im not sure about this christmas with so many family members sick as well. I just hope they make it iukwim.
This year I'm going to put all the family addresses onto the computer and print labels for card envelopes - that way, when we sent out birth cards a couple of months later, all the hard work is done. I'll have to start that soon as it will take me a day to do - we send about 40-50 cards each year. And I write a "newsletter" thing to go in the cards of people we don't catch up with often, like the more obscure uncles and aunts, or old school-friends that are just "card-friends" now. That's all sent out on the first weekend in December with Christmas stamps on the cards.
We usually do the Christmas Shopping the weekend after the credit card bill comes in, so that's the 9th of December this year (making sure we only spend what we've put aside, but we like earning interest for another couple of months), then on the Sunday I'll put up the trees. I put up as much as I can; we have two trees, a 6'6 one for the sitting room and a 2' one for the bedroom; the big one is all in gold and the 2' one in orange with built-in fibroptic lights. My sister has my old 1' fibroptic one, have to reclaim that after this year for Liebling's room! We also have a little electric candelabra thing for the bedroom. Oh, so looking forward to having the candles flickering, the tree going and me sitting in bed watching the Christmas films on the little TV! All snug and warm with my pyjamas and hot water bottle and not out in the snow!
After that I clear the mantlepiece, top of the TV, cabinet, computer hollow... any spaces I can find really, in preparation for the cards we receive. Haven't needed to pin bits of thread to the walls yet... that will be exciting when that happens!
The decorations usually come down the weekend between New Year and Epiphany... which isn't going to happen this year, so they'll come down on the 4th.
The First Sunday in Advent marks the start of me reading the Christmas Story whilst sat around an open fire... this year I have my belly to read it to as well! I love Advent! I also love the chocolate calendars - well, Liebling needs one and the only way to get the chocolate into Liebling is for me to eat it. So that may well mean I need two calendars, one for Liebling and one for me. I best start learning the bits I forget in Twas the night before Christmas too.
Carols will be fun this year: I like God rest ye, Merry Gentlemen and Liebling adores O, Holy Night. Liebs better like The Happiest Christmas Tree because there's not way I'm not playing that fifty times in a row.
I love Christmas. *sings*It's Christmas in Heaven/There's great films on TV/The Sound of Music twice an hour/And Jaws 1, 2 and 3!
First weekend in December here as well, although I'm thinking of taking Zander's CHristmas pictures for cards/email this week.
Yepo, first weekend in Dec. Going to be very pregnant this year so i'm not feeling like doing anything at all! I'm sure it will come though. Usually i'm really excited but this year i'm just tired and wanting to get this baby out and i'm only 32 weeks!
We do the tree and then a half hearted effort with the rest of the house. The Christmas songs come out Dec 1st though - GO SLADE!!!
Our tree and deccy's go up on 1st Dec as well...
moving to home, house and money