Originally Posted by
ornamentmaven
My shopping, cards, and some of the wrapping are all usually done before Thanksgiving. I mail gifts going out of the area on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
I start decorating the day after Thanksgiving now. When I was younger, I waited until after December 5th, but found that everything was so rushed then that I ended up feeling so stressed out. Many people decorate earlier now than they used to. Much more enjoyable. I try to stick to a decorating schedule. The day after Thanksgiving is dedicated to the outside lights (weather permitting); two days after Thanksgiving, the village goes up. The village set up is by far the most work and takes a good 8+ hours. Boxes that the houses come in serve as hills. These are then covered in snow blankets and I plan out where each house will be placed so I can run the lighting and hide it under the snow blankets. Then the houses are placed, followed by the accessories and people. Lastly, everything is dusted with "snow". So much work - but worth it!
Three days after Thanksgiving, I set up all the inside decorations - stockings; mistletoe; motionettes; nativity; my Santa, snowmen and nutcracker collections; inside lights; small trees; candles; etc. On the fourth day after, I set up my main tree, which also takes a long time - 4 to 6 hours depending upon the amount of help I get.
Then the next 5 or 6 days are spent baking cookies.
Can you tell I am getting excited?