I know you ask yourself this question every year. "Is it too early to start decorating for Christmas?" Some people like to pull the bins out of the closet the day after Halloween, while most others will usually wait until after Thanksgiving. We live in the Pacific Northwest, so if we waited until Turkey Day, then it's usually a pretty miserable experience when it comes to putting up the outside lights! The strategy that I developed about five years ago was to put them up in early November while the weather was still acceptable. Then, rather than be embarrassed in my neighborhood because I'm the only one with lights on the house, I simply don't turn them on until after Thanksgiving! Not only do I fit in with the rest of the street by actually lighting them up at a normal time, but I save money on the power bill as well! The best thing about it is that I didn't freeze my tail off decking out the house and yard!

With our Christmas ornament business occupying the entire months of November and December, decorating for Christmas needs to get done early for us, or else it won't get done. We have had years where we got so swamped in early November that we never got around to putting our entire arsenal of decorations out. The kids only help so much. They're excited for the first 15 minutes, then lose interest fast.

The bottom line is that there is no set day to decorate for Christmas. If you love the holidays and can't wait to show off your collection of snowmen, then you should get started as soon as your HOA allows!  Don't worry about what any of your neighbors think. Believe me, they are jealous that you are "done" with decorating, and they haven't even thought about starting! And don't fool yourself--they love seeing your decorations just as much as you do.

If you are a family that loves decorating early, then click on any of the pictures below to join in on the fun of getting all wrapped up in lights and having fun doing it!  Remember, it's never too early to start untangling the Christmas Lights!