I refused to listen to Christmas music or put up decorations before Thanksgiving and really had no desire. I was planning on waiting until around my bday (Dec. 12), but now that Thanksgiving is over, I'm starting to feel impatient and want to do it now, lol.
It doesn't help that I just ordered some of my favorite Christmas movies the other day too. I got the old claymation Rudolph movie and Nightmare Before Christmas and a few others and can't wait to watch them!
So who has a tree/decorations up already? Who did it the Friday after Thanksgiving? Who's waiting until later?
-Ely

Re: Finally getting into the Christmas mood!
I would like to be in the Christmas mood more than I am but school is stressing me out too much right now to be thinking about Christmas. I have gotten almost all of my shopping done though.
Since this is FI's first Hanukah as a fully converted Jew, I want to make it an extra sparkly year!
We have blue and white icicle lights we are going to hang on our balcony, as well as Star of David lights and I have a "Happy Hanukah" sign I am going to put on our front door. I want to get lights for inside, too, maybe dreidel lights. My mom used to have dreidel lights but I don't remember where she found them. I love decorating. My dad never let us do it at home and my mom wasn't into the whole holiday thing. But now I'm in MY apartment, MY rules, MY sparkly lights!
Beside: I definitely understand the sparklies! : ) I love putting lights up too and will probably use white lights like that for our wedding somehow too, lol. Congrats to your FI! I don't know very much about it, but from what I hear, it's a pretty involved process! I'll bet you're excited to share it with him this year! : )
[QUOTE]We didn't decorate while I was home, but I'm sure mom will be on it soon. Our neighbors already have their front yard completely done. My roommate and her BF got thier tree yesterday and put it up. So, it definitely feels like Christmas. And I allowed myself to listen to Christmas music yesteday during my drive. So, I'm in the spirit. I just have to get motivated on Christmas presents :)
Posted by peekaboo2011[/QUOTE]
I'm not sure where I'm at as far as money spent on gifts, but I'm actually ahead of schedule and I'm almost done, which is completely out of the norm for me, lol. So I'm excited about that. We have no yard to decorate. It makes me sad! : ( lol
I'll probably wait until Dec. 1st to decorate too. Partly because a month will be plenty of time to have the tree up, and partly because I'll probably be too lazy to get around to it this week, lol.
[QUOTE]I'm waiting until later. I just don't have time to break out the decorations like I want to now, and I don't like doing it in bits and pieces, I like to set aside a day to do it all! But I'll probably get to it in the next week or two. I always have to coordinate with my dad, because he helps me pick up my X-mas tree every year (It's just easier to tie the tree to his SUV than my car), then helps me set it up in my place. I'm thinking of getting a fake tree this year, though. It would be a break with tradition, but I don't know that I'll be around enough to keep up with a live tree. It makes me sad, but the thought of not having a tree at all is kind of unthinkable to me! SS reveal is Dec. 15, right? Maybe we should do a NEY home tour that same day and it'll be Holiday cheer on NEY day! That will give me motivation to decorate before then! And I'd love to see everyone's tree's and Hanukah decoreations.
Posted by DanieKA[/QUOTE]
I know how you feel. I wouldn't be able to not have any tree at all either. We've just got a little 2 foot tree right now though, lol. It's such a little Charlie Brown tree, but it's better than nothing and we don't want to buy a big fake one because we want to do real trees once we get a house. So it'll work for now.
I like your NEY Christmas/Hanukah decoration home tour idea! That sounds like fun!
[QUOTE]Congrats to your FI! I don't know very much about it, but from what I hear, it's a pretty involved process! I'll bet you're excited to share it with him this year! : )
Posted by elannis[/QUOTE]
Thank you very much =)
It took him about a year, between study and classes and meetings with the rabbi, to be considered ready. He "officially" converted at the end of August with a mikvah (ritual bath), mere weeks before the Jewish New Year (which is special in of itself). I am so very proud of him and his accomplishment and so are our families =)
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Finally getting into the Christmas mood! : Thank you very much =) It took him about a year, between study and classes and meetings with the rabbi, to be considered ready. He "officially" converted at the end of August with a mikvah (ritual bath), mere weeks before the Jewish New Year (which is special in of itself). I am so very proud of him and his accomplishment and so are our families =)
Posted by bsidebella[/QUOTE]
Yeah, that does sound really involved, lol. That's neat that he finished in time for the New Year. It sounds like a good time for a new start!
In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_finally-getting-christmas-mood?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:a8383254-73cb-4dea-98e5-4b47a66db60fPost:4647a67e-9ef2-43c9-be2b-0290ae8a0b9d">Re: Finally getting into the Christmas mood!</a>:
[QUOTE]We put up the fake tree last week. This is our first Christmas with the new kitten so we wanted to leave it up undecorated for a little while to get him acclimated to it and see how he would react. We also hung lights. I'm in the holiday mood early this year which is weird for me. I think it has more to do with wanting the semester to be over than the actual holidays...
Posted by swhite2012[/QUOTE]
I remember having cats and a Christmas tree. We'd constantly find the ornaments on the floor because they knocked them off as they climbed around inside, lol. I definitely understand wanting the semester to be over! I always looked forward to that, no matter which semester it was lol.
[QUOTE]We put up the tree and the outside lights this weekend. We haven't decorated the tree at all yet. We ended up getting a new 7.5' pre-lit tree this weekend, and FI hung the lights on the house. I don't do heights lol
Posted by Ollie08[/QUOTE]
I'm not one for getting on a ladder, or a roof, either, lol. It looks so pretty though!
We pretty much just put them out ahead of time, but I might wait a little while before putting mine out for FI. I don't want him to guess what they are, lol.
We usually put presents under the tree with the exception of the ones that come from Santa. But those have their own special wrapping paper.
I'm terrible with surprises. I tend to hint to FI what I got him, and I'll shake the packages he has wrapped for me. As a result, this year I'm being punished and he plans to keep all of my gifts at his mom's house! That's so cruel.
The only thing we don't keep under the tree are things that have a scent to them. Apparently our furbaby Buster doesn't care if it's cologne, or body wash, or lotion, he thinks it's food and he tears in to the presents. So those are kept out of reach. :-)
[QUOTE]We usually put presents under the tree with the exception of the ones that come from Santa. But those have their own special wrapping paper. I'm terrible with surprises. I tend to hint to FI what I got him, and I'll shake the packages he has wrapped for me. As a result, this year I'm being punished and he plans to keep all of my gifts at his mom's house! That's so cruel. The only thing we don't keep under the tree are things that have a scent to them. Apparently our furbaby Buster doesn't care if it's cologne, or body wash, or lotion, he thinks it's food and he tears in to the presents. So those are kept out of reach. :-)
Posted by Ollie08[/QUOTE]
Haha, I think I'd hide the presents from FI if he shook them too, lol. He could always just wrap your gifts in all the same size boxes with different weights and stuff so you can't really tell how heavy they are or how big they are. I've done that before. That's funny about the scented gifts, lol. Do you ever wrap a gift for him to open? Maybe he thinks it's for him, lol.
Sousa: I think that decorating is fun, but yeah, it's definitely the specials on TV that get me in the Christmas mood!
[QUOTE]My parents hang up the stockings and we have one for the cat and one for the dog too. So they get to "open" their own stuff too. They're a bit spoiled, lol.
Posted by elannis[/QUOTE]
lol Buster has his own stocking, but we don't wrap the gifts. I might do that this year though.
[QUOTE]My parents hang up the stockings and we have one for the cat and one for the dog too. So they get to "open" their own stuff too. They're a bit spoiled, lol.
Posted by elannis[/QUOTE]
<div>Our dogs growing up always had their own stocking. We are going to get one for the kitty this year =)</div>
Typically, we put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving, but this year, BF & I decided to go out shopping on Black Friday instead. So we are going to do that this weekend - outside of that, we don't really decorate. Our apartment is uber small and even though the tree is a little 2ft thing - there's just not much room for anything else.
Still here and still fabulous!
I bought my roommate the clamation Rudolf movie and I'm pretty sure I'm going to cave and give it to her early so we can watch it together! haha.
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Finally getting into the Christmas mood! : Thank you very much =) It took him about a year, between study and classes and meetings with the rabbi, to be considered ready. He "officially" converted at the end of August with a mikvah (ritual bath), mere weeks before the Jewish New Year (which is special in of itself). I am so very proud of him and his accomplishment and so are our families =)
Posted by bsidebella[/QUOTE]
Congratulations to your FI! I've been researching Judaism more and more intensely over the past few months and leaning towards wanting to convert (my whole family is Catholic so that should be interesting). If you don't mind me asking, what branch of Judaism are you and FI?
I got my lights up on Thanksgiving morning. Then I decorated the house on Saturday while H was out so I could blast my Christmas music. We'll get a tree this weekend.
When I was a kid, I made my mom wait to put up decorations until after my birthday (Dec 9), but not anymore. It seems we have a lot of December birthdays here, too!
I haz a planning bio
[QUOTE]I'm assuming those of you with young kids wait to put presents under the tree until Christmas Eve, but for those without kids, do you wait to put gifts out for each other or put them out as you get them? We pretty much just put them out ahead of time, but I might wait a little while before putting mine out for FI. I don't want him to guess what they are, lol.
Posted by elannis[/QUOTE]
<div>I had a Charlie Brown tree one year! I loved that little tree. It was so sad, but kind of cool at the same time. </div><div>
</div><div>I put presents out as I get them. I a few years ago I actually wrapped empty boxes to put under my tree to make it seem more full! It was just for decoration sake. I didn't need more gifts, but my tree looked so sad with only 3 or 4 gifts. I've actually used the fake gifts since then.</div>