Tis the season. Will you bother to decorate in this fraught time?

I never did decorate for the holidays except when the kids were young I did put some ornaments on the mantlepiece. I am thinking of getting a wreath and putting it on my front door just for a bit of festivity.

And yes, I am seeing a lot of decorations going up in the neighborhood because I think many do want some light in this darkness.

I never decorate, but decorations are going up all around me. I have friends all around the country who started early this year or are putting decorations up this weekend.

A friend just texted me that tonight a street near me officially starts their drive through Christmas lights. They might be collecting donations for charities is my guess.

I will be wearing Chanukah and Christmas necklaces and shirts and I have a mask for each holiday.

My parents will be decorating the house as usual, but my mom is using this year as an excuse to finally get a small Christmas tree, which she’s always wanted. Gone are the floor-to-ceiling trees of my youth. :(

Yes already started, found the wreath for door and Christmas flag for front porch.

We always put up a small tree, and some other decorations, including something on the front door.

People in my neighborhood seem to have put up decorations early this year, some before Thanksgiving.

There is a town about a half hour northwest of mine that’s doing a driving tour of lit up decorated houses. The deadline for the participants to submit their address is December 10, and then there will be a map online that can be downloaded, and you will drive on this “tour” and see the decorations in your own time.

Another town in the hills of CT is doing something similar, where you drive by and see the tree lighting and see Santa and decorated houses.

I think there is creativity going on. People with kids especially want to try to keep some sense of normalcy. In my house, decorations are minimal compared to friends’ houses but my daughter likes a tree and decorations so I have to try to keep up.

Bah, humbug.

@ragingloli Oh, go have another cup of coffee. :-)

@janbb
Only if you let me sit on your lap afterwards.

I didn’t decorate for Halloween (which is really big for me!). The neighbors have put out the edict that I have to decorate for Christmas. I didn’t decorate for Halloween because I had no time to decorate and wasn’t in town for Halloween anyway. But I really got into Halloween because, when I was a kid, it was always a magical time with all the decorations. I wanted to share that with another generation. Christmas lights and decorations have always been a similar thing. Christmas looks like it will be a much slower time so I will start getting the decorations out of the attic.

The thing with decorating is it’s a lot of fun to decorate, but such drudgery to take it all down and put it away.

I just put up the tree, but I haven’t decorated it yet. My dog is mad because she can’t look out the window now.

Decorating more this year, and even a little earlier than usual. Getting a tree tomorrow, putting up some new outdoor lights on my patio this afternoon. Have a new string of lights for the tree that look like candles, got a 14 inch high LED Christmas tree from MoMA for the table.

Wreath up and flag changed out. Flag is a black and white cat in a Santa hat.

I put up my Xmas tree in early November. The year is contorted already, so I thought “what the f**k.”

I cheat anyway, as my living room is gloomy and I keep my little tabletop tree up and lit all year long. I change out the colored lights in January for white lights, then back during the holidays.

I’ve NEVER been one for decorating!!! As a young adult, I traveled home for Christmas & my parents always went all out on the decorating; so since I wasn’t going to be home for Christmas, I used that as an excuse to enjoy the hard work of my parents!!! After moving back home, I still spent most of my Christmas with my parents so I still didn’t decorate. After my stroke, it became so freaking difficult to do even the simplest decorating tasks. Then after my husband & both my parents died, I’ve lost interest i decorating!!!

A lot of people in my town go all out in trying to out do each other in the decorating department. IF I get the urge to “need to” see decorations, I drive around my town enjoying other people’ hard work!!!

Absolutely. We’re all done except for the tree, which will happen next weekend.

paired down all my Christmas ornaments over the years by giving them to the thrift shop a couple of years ago and opted for a small 18 inch tree instead,
This year as customary in our building, we decorate our apartment doors.
I like creating so I made a coffee filter wreath and added a silver Elk, Poinsettia, and small deer as a nature theme. all silver and white theme.
I am making clear ornaments to fill with sprig of pine to make a winter scene plus pinecones hanging along the side of the door frame.

One year I made a winter scene in a aquarium with small string of lights and fake snow etc

@Demosthenes, I made that tree compromise myself four or five years ago because doing the whole thing had become too much for me. At first it was hard to accept the need to downsize, but I figured out one thing that made the difference: I bought a 4-foot Douglas fir and put it on a table with a nice long decorative tree skirt beneath it that almost reached the floor.

So the star comes at the same height it always did, and it takes less than half the effort to decorate.

Turns out that the top half of the tree is what’s important. We just look up instead of down and see the best part.

Several years ago, we purchased a Norfolk Island pine tree that can be kept out all year long. It’s not only easier, but more sustainable, than a fresh cut or an artificial tree. We purchased tiny baubles to place on its branches for the holiday.

Our stockings will be hung by the chimney with care.

There is a disturbingly garish snow globe music box that continues to make an appearance every year, in addition to two “decorative” holiday pillows that are too uncomfortable to use. This year, the cushions can go on the chairs not normally used, as there won’t be any guests over. The “Hide the Snowglobe” game tradition will probably live on.

@Pied_Pfeffer, do you bring the tree inside at Christmas?

We bought a living tree one year, decorated it, and then tended it outdoors in a big pot until the following December. Brought it inside, and then . . . ants started pouring out of the pot in droves. Chased them feverishly with the vacuum cleaner, hauled the pot back out to the yard, and went out to get a cut tree.

@Jeruba A Norfolk Island Pine is a good indoor plant. It only grows as big as the pot it is in. It is low maintenance and doesn’t shed. Occasionally, a branch may turn brown; just trim it off with a pair of scissors.

Fooey on Christmas. The bigger my family gets, the more money it costs. I prefer the Easter Bunny. Much easier on my wallet.

Of course, and it’s not a bother.