We used to hang up Christmas lights in October while living in Wisconsin so we could beat the snow. (and take them down in March once the snow melted!) Now, we put up lights in November in shorts and t-shirts!
As much as I love Christmas and I can’t wait to get all the decor out – I usually stick to the after Thanksgiving timeline. But we had time last Saturday so we put them up. I didn’t think we’d turn them on until after Thanksgiving because we’re really not the type. But Steve was excited and the kids were excited and he couldn’t handle it anymore – the lights had to go on. I fought it but I was outnumbered. I was cringing as I knew everyone in the neighborhood would drive by and wonder why in the world we had lights up two weeks before Thanksgiving.
30 minutes after turning the lights on for the first time we had a neighbor ringing our doorbell. We have a playful/sarcastic relationship and he was giving us the business that we had our lights up and on and now his wife is telling him he needs to go in the attic and get their boxes down and all he wanted to do was come home and watch sports!
I’m sure all the husbands are thanking us as their wives are pointing at our house telling them it’s time to put the lights up!
Your kids are at the perfect age for helping!
Jenny Hatch
https://jennyhatch.blogspot.com/?m=0
Your neighborhood sounds very stressful. I hope you are teasing about people keeping up with their neighbors. There are a lot of traditions even among Christians about how to keep Christmas.
You are correct in your assumption that I’m teasing – my tongue-in-cheek speech is often lost in the written world! If you knew the neighbor that came over and gave us a bad time it would make perfect sense – he’s older with kid’s raised and he is the best kind of fun and playful neighbor!