Today’s the day, November 12.

“What does that mean?” You may ask. Well, it’s finally time to deck the halls!

Now that Remembrance Day is behind us, it’s officially acceptable to start decorating for Christmas! (to some people)

eak_kkk / Pixabay

The debate on how early is too early to start decorating for the holidays has been argued for generations. My family’s rule of thumb, and one that I’ve heard from many other Canadians is to wait until after Remembrance Day to put the lights up on the house. Then each week after that another piece goes up. By the time we’re into December, the only thing left to decorate is the tree.

Our neighbours to the south are typically a little bit later to the game. Most Americans think of their Thanksgiving as the last line of defence against the Christmas onslaught. In the home at least…

There’s always that one house on the block that puts up Christmas stuff right after Halloween. But in recent years I feel like the stores have been putting out the décor earlier and earlier too. This year Costco had their Halloween decorations out in August! And before October they started bringing out the first wave of Christmas stuff. By the time I start just thinking about decorations they’ve already been phased out for the next season. I get that some people like planning ahead, but that’s a little excessive.

A lot of people (especially older folks) still wait for the traditional Christmas countdown of Advent or the beginning of December to start decorating. But I don’t think that gives you enough time to fully enjoy the atmosphere of the holiday. I still believe mid-November is the perfect time to start getting festive. Just in time to sit beck, relax, and soak up the holiday spirit the whole month of December.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter when you put the decorations up (as long as they’re down before new years). The Christmas season is about joy, love, and community above everything, no matter when the first bauble hits the tree.