Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Gem_Seb]

In the flats by my house 3 people have xmas trees in their windows or xmas lights up!! surely this is too early!! When do you all put yours up?!!

[Chickvic]

Ours go up for the 1st December, although I was speaking to a friend last week and she said someone had had their's up for a fortnight already

[Gem_Seb]

2 weeks already!! i love christmas but if im honest im always quite glad to take them down and get everything back to normal by Jan! dont think i could cope having them up for 2 months!!

[Scramble]

We normally put them up sometime in December...have left it as late as Christmas Eve before

I always have to take them down on the twelfth day after Christmas though.

[Chickvic]

Mine are usually down before I go back to school.

[Olly]

I've got family visiting for 12th December, so I want to get them up by then - that's a bit early for me, but no point putting them up after the visitors have been.

 

I had my first full choir rehearsal last night, got me feeling all Christmassy!

[Egluntyne]

I was chatting to a friend yesterday.....and she had received her first Christmas card that morning.

 

No doubt someone wanting to beat any postal strikes.

[Gem_Seb]

It gets earlier every year doesnt it! This year has just gone so quickly for me i cant believe it will be December in a few weeks! ive had a lot going on this year so it may tha ive been busy and doing a lot of different things that has made it fly by but everyone i speak to says the same this year!

 

I too have left my decorations until christmas eve! our 2 kittens completly wrecked the christmas tree last year, it lasted 24 hrs before it had to come down! im now looking for decoartions that they will not be able to wreck for this year but dont want to spend too much! i miss not having a tree though! ill have to find my before and after pics of my sorry state of a tree from last year!

[Lewis]

I've got family visiting for 12th December, so I want to get them up by then - that's a bit early for me, but no point putting them up after the visitors have been.

 

I had my first full choir rehearsal last night, got me feeling all Christmassy!

The day before that is a great day! My 18th

 

Ours never used to go up until the 14th after me + moms birthdays, then it can be Christmas ... last year they started going up early and we had the snow days to sort everything out. Probably will be the 1st this year

 

 

I haven't heard anything christmassy yet but I bet they're all getting ready for the concert at school

[Cinnamon]

Mine go up 12 days before & come down 12 days after - I like it that way

Also, as we always get a real tree,if it goes up any earier,they don't last as well

 

I get my tree online & get it delivered,as I like a Nordman,& they are sometimes hard to find.

And my decorations are gold,with tiny non-flashing soft white LED lights

I also have lots of those battery short strings of fairy lights from John Lewis which I have heaped around the place

[Alis girls]

I remember going to see OH's relatives in Cyprus many moons ago and we went in the summer and the Christmas tree was still up in the corner i remember hissing at OH (then my BF) " why have they got a Christmas tree up?" He just shrugged and looked embarrassed never did find out - I think they were just eccentric

[BeckyBoo]

Next door but one has their lights up in the window! I go for the 1st of December as the kids are nagging incessantly by then! We normally get a real tree but this year I'm going to get the fake one out of the loft - more eco-friendly and MUCH cheaper!! (I bet I end up with a real one, children power again )

 

BeckyBoo

[Old Speckled Hen]

The tree at work always used to go up on Dec 1st.

At home it's usually one week before Christmas.

I have static white LEDs and Murano Icicles on mine

 

[Cooks]

Mine always go up just before my birthday on December 7th as tradition in our family since I was born. I take call the cards down on the 26th December as my Sons birthday is the 27th December and I feel his birthday cards should be the main focal point as otherwise they would get swamped

Decs come down sometime early Jan.

[Busybird]

For the last few years I have hosted my Book Group's Christmas 'Do' so get the children to put our decorations up the weekend before - normally the first weekend in December but this year it will still be November to accomodate everyone's busy schedules .

 

I would much rather leave it until a couple of weeks later but feel the place has to look festive for a Christmas party. I am usually ready to take everything down just after Christmas (Boxing Day if I had the choice ) but leave everything in place until we have got through all the Chritmas 'entertaining'. As this can sometimes mean a New Year party I am more than ready to pack everything away by the time I can.

 

I do enjoy the festive season - I just find it a bit wearing if it lasts too long

[Seagazer]

We used to wait to put the decorations up until after YS's birthday on the 8th but for the last couple of years they have gone up before. It had started to feel like we were just waiting to get his birthday done so they could go up, which is all wrong

 

We have my OH's family get together on the 13th this year so they will definitely have to go up before then. I think I will ask YS when he wants them up and leave it to him. My DD is the one who always wants them up sooner but she's not back from uni until 12th.

 

I usually can't wait to get them all down after Christmas though even though I love the tree twinkling away in the corner.

[chickencam]

When I was little, we lived on a stately home estate, where my dad was head gardener, so we could cut our own tree. My dad always did this on the morning of Christmas Eve and my mum and I would decorate it that afternoon whilst listening to Carols from Kings on the radio Ooooh that made me feel so nostalgic . I can remember the smell of the freshly cut tree so well.

 

We tend to leave it until the middle of December. We have bought 2 large sofas recently and we haven't really got room for our large artificial tree, so we may get a small real one instead.

 

I have fought with OH over the years since we have had children and I have won him over recently, so that the children can just bung what they like on the tree, including home made decorations dating back to when they were in reception. He used to like the tree to be just so. He does the lights then it is a free for all His brother is really bad it takes him a week to do their tree with alternate red and gold baubles in a strict pattern. It will be interesting to see what he does when our baby nephew is a bit older. The rest of their house is a tip, so why is he so obssessed with the tree????

[henriette]

When I was little, we lived on a stately home estate, where my dad was head gardener, so we could cut our own tree. My dad always did this on the morning of Christmas Eve and my mum and I would decorate it that afternoon whilst listening to Carols from Kings on the radio Ooooh that made me feel so nostalgic . I can remember the smell of the freshly cut tree so well.

 

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That sounds very magical! I can almost smell that freshly cut aroma. We try to buy a Nordic tree if we can and put it up on Christmas Eve too. At a push we might put it up earlier if we have people coming to the house before the 24th. The cards go up as and when they arrive, and we have some friends who always send theirs at the end of November!

[ubereglu]

We'll probably put up the decorations by about the 2nd or 3rd weekend of December as it's Dad's birthday on 9th December.

 

I love Christmas as it means everyone will be at home! Although this year I have lots of revision to do over the holidays.

[Seagazer]

I'm a bit like your BIL Chickencam. The tree in the front room has to be just so and I spend ages tinkering with it. I can be sitting there watching the tv and then I notice that something doesn't look quite right and I have to get on and change it.

 

We have another tree (a real one that we've kept from last year ) that the kids can do whatever they like to, we try to buy them a new decoration each year although its getting harder now the older two aren't around as much.

 

We have some china knick knacks that get put out as well and also the Nativity scene in pride of place on the mantlepiece.

[docsquid]

The cats tend to destroy our tree, so it goes up on Christmas Eve and down on New Year's Day or the day after. It is pretty old, and the decorations pretty tatty, but it is a waste of time to buy new ones that the cats can then chase all round the house and either shred or lose!

 

I like Christmas to be special and it really loses specialness if it goes on too long. The cards go up when they arrive.

 

Everybody thinks we are a bit weird not putting the tree up on 1st December, and taking it down before 12th night but putting it on on Christmas Eve marks the start of Christmas for us, and thus makes it special.

 

We also avoid the Boxing Day Sales, preferring to walk in the countryside and avoid the crowds.

[MedusA]

I'm not allowed to even think about Christmas (openly at least) until after DD's birthday which is next week.

 

My decs always go up as soon after 1st December as is practical. I like to get my money's worth.

[Gem_Seb]

When i could have a tree i used to put it up the week before and down a on new years eve! I was hoping the cats wouldve grown out of it by now but i put the clothes horse up last night in the lounge and they both ran and jumped on it and were using it as a climbing frame! Even though one of them is clearly too big to do this he still insists on trying! while Jodie gracefully jumps all over it teasing him as he cant catch her! lol! i think im going to have to give the tree a miss this year again judging by the excitment of last nights climbing games!

[Charlottechicken]

When I was little, we lived on a stately home estate, where my dad was head gardener, so we could cut our own tree. My dad always did this on the morning of Christmas Eve and my mum and I would decorate it that afternoon whilst listening to Carols from Kings on the radio Ooooh that made me feel so nostalgic . I can remember the smell of the freshly cut tree so well.

 

That sounds so lovely

 

I have had outdoor lights hanging outside the house for the last two years, plain white ones. I will put those up the last week in November for switch on on the 1st of December. I put them on a timer too, so when I come home from work they are twinkling away, it looks really pretty. They are low energy ones from Wilkinson and cost less than a pound in electric for the 5 weeks they are on.

 

My tree goes up as close to Christmas eve and breaking up from work as possible (this year I get Christmas Eve off so I will do it then, whilst watching something Christmassy on the TV) and comes down as near to Twelfth night as possible. A few years ago my lovely pet rat climbed the tree and chewed the multicoloured fairy lights I had, now I've got new plain white lights, and the chickens aren't allowed in the house!