When Should You Put Up The Christmas Tree?

I did a big thing this past weekend. I put up my Christmas tree… before Thanksgiving. *gasp*

The “correct” time to decorate for Christmas is such a hotly debated topic. I’ve always been a Christmas purist, not wanting to start any of the decorating and celebrations under the day after Thanksgiving. Others are playing Jingle Bells and decking their halls with bows of holly by November 1st.

Some hold the tradition of having their Christmas tree up for Advent. Others who purchase a real tree will have to wait until about December 1st or later to get their tree and ensure it is still fresh for Christmas.

Of course there is the old tradition of the Christmas tree appearing only for Christmas Day and then being gone. I have to take issue with this tradition because it sounds like a lot of work for one day! Plus, why do we have children if not to make them decorate the tree?!

That Thing That I Did Last Weekend…

As I said, I put up my tree early this year for the first time ever. My daughter and I sang Christmas carols, sorted the decorations, put up the main tree as well as the small tree in her room, strung the lights, set up the toy train, and decorated the tree. And you know what? I do not even feel ashamed about it!

Here’s the situation: I am busy. I work full time and have an active first grader to cart around to activities. I have a very busy side hustle that I work in all of my free time. This year we are traveling to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. We no sooner get back and we turn around and travel to Kansas for an early Christmas and to celebrate some family birthdays. By the time we get back I’ll be in over my head in shopping, baking, Christmas concerts, Christmas parties, school activities, and all the lovely holiday season things… PLUS work and regular life stuff.

If I waited to decorate after Thanksgiving, it would add stress to the Christmas season and we would have so little time to enjoy the decorations.

For the Christmas Decorating Purists

The older I get, the more silly the argument over when it’s “okay” to decorate for Christmas seems to me. It was about 5 seconds ago that I was the hard line “no Christmas until after Thanksgiving” person. But you know what? I’m just too busy with living life to have the energy to fight this losing battle.

One side is yelling, “NO Christmas until after Thanksgiving! You’re ruining my favorite holiday with your early Christmas cheer!” And the other side is complaining, “OH EM GEE, leave me alone with my happiness already!”

Before I dare to suggest that we all just mind our own business, I thought it might be helpful for my fellow Christmas decorating purists (I’m including myself, because it was me until super recently when I got too tired to care) if I give you a list of reasons why it makes sense for some people to start Christmas decorating before Thanksgiving. I polled some early Christmas loving friends and you might be interested in their responses.

9 Real Reasons Why People Decorate for Christmas Before Thanksgiving

“It’s just how I was raised.”
In some places, having a tree up for Thanksgiving is pretty normal and part of their holiday tradition.
“I work retail and we have to decorate at work before Thanksgiving anyhow.”
Retail stores need to have decorations up before Thanksgiving. That is when people are shopping for Christmas gifts anyhow. Plus, who wants people to have to give up their Thanksgiving Day to be at work decorating so it’s ready when the doors open on Black Friday?
“It’s too much work to decorate only for a couple of weeks.”
Plenty of people would like to enjoy their decorations for longer, so they want them up sooner.
“Christmas makes me happy.”
One friend explained how she can’t wait for Christmas time because it helps her with depression and anxiety. Another sent me this article that reports that early decorating could make you happier. The exact opposite can be true very for some people, but many can’t wait to get started with the celebrations because it serves as a warm and happy distraction from the difficulties of life.
“I work at a church.”
Similar to the retail worker above, people who work at a church might experience a super crazy busy Christmas season. The sooner they can get their decorations up, the better!
“I don’t have fall decorations.”
Thanksgiving isn’t one of the big decorating holidays for most people, so it just makes sense to create a festive atmosphere for turkey day with Christmas decorations.
“Thanksgiving is when the family is visiting.”
Even in my “absolutely NO Christmas before Thanksgiving!” days, I did put my tree up the night before Thanksgiving at least two years that I can remember. The reason was that my family was coming to visit for Thanksgiving and I wanted them to see my pretty Christmas decorations. Because I didn’t want to spend my Black Friday decorating, I put it up a couple of days early so it was done.
“Less stress in December.”
I don’t know about you, but I do NOT need one more thing to do in December. Getting the decorating done is one less thing on my to-do list.
“It’s a fake tree anyway.”
This is my favorite reason. We use a fake tree every year because I do not have space in my life for freezing my butt off while picking a real tree before killing it and dragging it home to deal with the fire hazard, sweeping pine needles, and crawling under to water it. Not to mention, the last time I had a real tree we could not for the life of us get it straight and it fell over multiple times, breaking some of my favorite ornaments before we gave in and tied the stupid thing to the wall. And so began our joyous family tradition of the artificial Christmas tree. When you use a real tree, you really do need to wait until early December to get it and decorate. Those of us free from this tradition might as well go ahead and get our decorating on in November.
“When I say ‘happy holidays,’ I mean it! Some people feel like there is one, big, exciting holiday season that begins with Thanksgiving and ends with New Year’s. It’s about six weeks of celebrations, which sounds like a fantastic idea to me! The Christmas decorations tie all of the November-January 1st holidays together.
“Everyone else is doing it.”
Okay, so that isn’t exactly true. But the stores are decorated and playing Christmas music, we’re all planning and shopping for the holidays now, and plenty of people are well into their Christmas spirit by now. Why wait?

So, when should you put up the Christmas Tree? The answer is… whenever you want.