Decorating Before Thanksgiving

December is here, which means you should have decorated already. Decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving spreads joy, allows you to spend more time with family, and helps children enjoy the special holiday. It’s fun, there are many crafts to make, and a lot of amazing food to eat.  

Plus Thanksgiving isn’t as big of a holiday as Christmas. There isn’t anything wrong with decorating before Thanksgiving especially because Christmas is one of the best holidays. 

According to Yahoo Life, 27% of people decorate for the holiday season before thanksgiving. 

Seeing bright colorful lights, beautiful Christmas trees, wreaths, snowmen, and many more things brings Christmas spirit to people and their towns. The bright Christmas colors covering many houses and all over buildings in town are beautiful. 

So many kids believe in Santa, let them enjoy that while their childhood lasts. The kids seeing decorations makes them happier and experience more exciting things. According to AARP 67% of people feel happier during the holidays. 

Making crafts with kids such as glitter snowflake ornaments, gingerbread houses, countdown charts, and snow globes really brings out their imagination and lets them express it.

Spending time with family is such valuable time, so decorate with them. It is fun and brightens your mood. Kids love helping their families decorate and seeing the work they accomplished. 

“I like decorating for Christmas because it brings my whole family together and we can bond from it. My family always gets personalized ornaments every year and they are fun to look back on,” Karlee Jackson said. 

Getting a Christmas tree is something a lot of families do. Taking it home, setting it up, wrapping colors, ornaments and lights around it is so fun. 

There are so many desserts and treats to make for Christmas. Baking cookies shaped as stockings, Santa, candy canes, snowflakes, and more,  then decorating them with colorful icing and sprinkles is super fun, especially because you get to eat them after. 

 Decorating After

Everyone who celebrates winter holidays has a different opinion about when it is okay to decorate, but the more appropriate time would be after Thanksgiving. 

Typically, we celebrate holidays in order. For example, after New Year’s we start to get ready for Valentine’s Day, after Easter we get ready for the fourth of July, and so on. Therefore, winter holidays should not be any different. Thanksgiving is in between Halloween and winter holidays, so people need to celebrate Thanksgiving first. 

If we overlook the Thanksgiving holiday, not only do we miss the important aspects of the holiday, but we drag out the holiday season. By dragging out and commercializing the holiday season early on, it puts pressure on people to buy gifts in November and start decorating their houses too early.

For American culture, Thanksgiving is a very important holiday in history and should get more recognition. In 1620 the Mayflower left England to come to America. The passengers were promised freedoms of a new home, religious practice, and promised prosperity. The Pilgrims then went through a brutal winter and only half lived to see spring. They sold enslaved native americans taught the Pilgrims how to survive times like that and how they crop and harvest their own food. Years later during the American Revolution, George Washington declared Thanksgiving to be a national holiday.

Thanksgiving is also a time to be grateful for all the blessings you have. It’s a great time to spend time with family over a large meal, and give thanks to those around you. Friendsgiving is also another great opportunity for people who are not as close to their families to celebrate the holiday. Freshman Austin Irvin agrees that Thanksgiving is an important holiday, and shouldn’t be looked over. He states,

“I think Thanksgiving is an important holiday not to forget about, since it is so focused on family. Thanksgiving is focused on just seeing your family and friends, gathering around food, and counting your blessings. Many other holidays don’t have that same focus, making thanksgiving important. “

Overall whether you celebrate with family, friends or both, Thanksgiving is a calm way to start off the holiday season with people who you love most.