Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs as to when we should start celebrating Christmas and putting up our Christmas trees each holiday season, and when we should halt our Christmas celebrations and take our trees down. For some, it is a traditional Christian practice to put up their trees at the start of Advent (four Sundays before Christmas). For others, regardless of whether they are Christian or not, it is acceptable to put up decorations right after Halloween passes. As for taking down decorations, some people don’t mind taking them down as early as Boxing Day. Some Christians adhere to the belief that their trees should be taken down by no later than February 2 to prevent the release of evil spirits which would be detrimental to the trees’ growing season if they were to be removed any later.
For those who choose to get live trees for Christmas, they must also consider the lifetime of a fresh cut tree, which is from three to six weeks, when deciding when to put up and take down decorations.
As an agnostic person, I have a few “rules” that align with my moral code. First, I don’t think it is appropriate to put up Christmas decorations or to start celebrating Christmas in any way until after Remembrance Day, in order to properly honour our troops. With that being said, I don’t start celebrating Christmas until at least Dec. 1, because I believe that extending the celebration beyond one month spoils a lot of the specialness of Christmas. Within my family, we don’t put up our Christmas tree until the first weekend in December, and I’m happy with this tradition.
My question is: what drives some people to start celebrating Christmas so early? I believe that lots of the temptation is driven by a force in the markets — the “Christmas creep.” This is when retailers start advertising and having sales on their Christmas decorations seemingly earlier and earlier each consecutive holiday season.
For people who are influenced by Christmas deals that come out early in the season, some of which began in October this 2022/2023 holiday season, I have two questions. First, why potentially add to the stress of the holiday season by shopping so early? Second, are you catering to your extrinsic motivations, as in mindlessly following societal trends, over your intrinsic motivations, or innate desires? If your answer to the second question is “yes,” then I suggest you reassess your decision to start partaking in Christmas celebrations so early in the year. If your answer to the second question is “no,” then to that I say, “you do you!”
As for when Christmas decorations should be taken down, I believe that they should be taken down by no later than a week after New Year’s Day. My family’s tradition is to take our tree down on January 2 or 3, as we are keen to move beyond the holiday season as soon as New Year’s Day has passed.
If Christmas is celebrated for too long each holiday season, then how special can it really be?
Jade is an English Honours: Creative Writing student. She plans on pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing after graduating from her undergraduate degree. When she’s not in class or studying, she can be found doing karaoke at a local restaurant in hopes of getting noticed and signed to a record deal.