So I’m one of those people that refuses to decorate for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. Anyone else with me?
I think it’s because I view Thanksgiving as an autumn holiday, and I want to give my family plenty of time to appreciate and celebrate it before moving on to the next holiday.
As we move toward Thanksgiving, we talk a lot about our blessings, friends, and generosity with the boys. We want them to recognize the blessings in their lives and thank God for providing so abundantly for them. We want them to realize what a gift friends are and learn what it means to be a true friend to others. We also want to teach them to live with their hands open, not closed, so they can share the blessings God has given them with others.
We’ll wrap up the Thanksgiving holiday with a day filled with visiting family and sharing good food and conversation—all things I’m extremely grateful for. After that, we’ll move on to the Christmas holiday.
Now that we have a new home, I think I’d like to start a new family tradition of picking out our Christmas tree and decorating it on the day after Thanksgiving.
We do go out on Black Friday to make one purchase – our Christmas tree! This year we went to a new to us tree farm where we could cut our own tree and we found the perfect tree, 12ft tall but skinny (we have high ceilings!). We put lights on that afternoon, decorations in Saturday and then on Sunday I host a holiday mug exchange with cookies and coffees and teas sat out to munch on. It’s a great way to start the season!
Oh, that sounds like the loveliest tradition. I hope it continues for many more years. Thanks for sharing!
I am right there with you! It’s a shame the Autumn holiday is being overwhelmed by Christmas, but gifts aren’t given for Thanksgiving. Commercialism is the culprit! I believe the day after Thanksgiving would be the perfect day to pick out the tree and decorate it. I hope your family has a wonderful winter holiday and I do enjoy your blog. ~April
I agree, April. I used to rush out right after Thanksgiving dinner with a list of all the places I wanted to go Black Friday shopping, and while this was a tradition I did with some of my sisters-in-law, for the past few years, it’s not something I’ve felt like doing any longer. I enjoy the ease of not having to rush off, the stress of getting to all the deals, and staying up all night (It’s getting so much more difficult to do the older I get — LOL!). Instead, it’s nice to sit and eat and chat for as long as we all want to. Anyway, I’m looking forward to continuing some of our favorite holiday traditions and making new ones in our new home. Happy holidays to you as well!