Gearing up for the Festive Frenzy

A few years ago it felt like it was the in thing to start celebrating Christmas as early as possible and in some people’s minds, it seemed acceptable to adorn the house with lights and pump up the festive inflatables at the earliest opportunity.

Now I am no Scrooge.  I like Christmas. No actually I love Christmas.  It is a fantastic time of year and I love the build up as much as the rest of them. 

But like anything that happens to early, it can all become a little deflated and jaded.  A house round the corner from us decked the halls and garden in November and of course, by mid December the inflatables had popped, the reindeer with a rotating head looked like it had developed arthritis and the Christmas lights were all looking a bit like it was all too much effort.

So what is the point of that then?  Isn’t it better to wait a while and have a short burst of pre-Christmas excitement rather than too much build up and it all going a bit flat.  It reminds me of a nice glass of champagne which is warm and has list its fizz.

So this year December seems to be back as the official time to start the festivities and I am glad although it would seem that some people were literally bursting for the first of December to arrive as suddenly there are lights twinkling, music blaring and people Christmas shopping wherever I go and it won’t be long I’m sure, before cards start arriving through the door.

So when is the right time to don the decorations?  There is a definite divide where this is concerned.  There are the first of December frenzy gang who are already decked and raring to go.  Then the ‘middle of the monthers’ who think that a couple of weeks is just right.

There is also a small but significant bunch of last minuters who go as close as possible to the tradition of the twelve days of Christmas.  Personally I love the idea of putting the decorations up on Christmas Eve as it would really add to the magic of proceedings.  In reality though, I have so much to do on Christmas Eve, that wouldn’t be a practical option. 

Now at this point, I am going to own up and admit that our tree went up on the first. But, before you shout at me for being a hypocrite, there is a reason.  There are the not one, but three birthdays in this house before Christmas.  Hubby gains another year on Sunday, swiftly followed two days later by the grand event of A turning four and the following day is mine.  Nothing like a bit of overkill and I can assure you that we are all officially birthdayed out by the time we get to mine.

Add to the birthdays the many and varied festive events involving the children and family visits and it really is a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ month.  When we thought about how the next few weeks would pan out, it was last weekend or not, so against my better judgement, I dragged the decoration bags out of the wardrobe. So Christmas can now do it’s worst as we are officially ready.

Once you decide when Christmas is going to start in your house, the next question is ‘how much?’  It probably won’t surprise you to know that I am fairly minimalist when it comes to decorations.  A tree?  Of course.  A few lines up for the cards?  We have to do that to accommodate all of the birthday cards too. For me, that is enough.  We have a few Christmas teddies which are nice and I have just ordered some bunting, but that really is enough for me.

I have a huge dislike of tinsel.  Don’t ask me why, but it is almost a phobia.  Maybe I had a bad experience with metallic coated polyvinyl chlorideas a young child, who knows? I had to buy a piece of pink tinsel for A’s bedroom (she made me do it!) and I can’t stand it.  When I take her to bed now it rustles menacingly at me and there are bits of it all over the stairs.  I also have an equal dislike of those shiny decorations that people attach to their ceilings.

Then there is the Christmas light debate that we have with the children every year.  They want them. Desperately.  I don’t.  Apart from the fact that our house faces away from the others and the lights would be seen by us and a couple of dog walkers, I have a mortal fear of my husband on the roof trying to put lights on.  He isn’t the most practical of men at the best of times and I can see it now; he would either fail miserably or hurt himself in the process of trying and it would be down to me to try and put them up.  So, it’s a big no from me on that point too.  We have a small light up snowman (which currently has no batteries!) that goes in the window and that will most definitely do.

The boys think I am a big meanie of course but I am not the biggest fan of these houses that have more lights than Blackpool illuminations.  Do they not care about the size of their electricity bill? There is one house in a village a few miles from here that over does the lights to raise money for charity.  That is all well and good, except for the fact that the house is in the middle of nowhere and if you drive past it, the shock can almost make you crash the car.  A few subtle lights are nice I think, but that is enough.  Yes I know, bah humbug and all that.  

So how about you, are you ready for the festive frenzy?  Decorations up, lights on?  Or are you going for the ‘as late as possible’ philosophy?