The Grinch Doesn’t Live Here
I have always been a very strict, Christmas happens in December and only December kind of person. Which means decorations go up after December 1 and come down Before New Years.
It turns out at 2.5 years old, toddlers loves all things Christmas! And, he couldn’t understand or and refused to agree to with my Christmas only in December arbitrary rule.
In the last few weeks whenever we drive anywhere, he has started saying Hi Snowman! to any house that has a blow-up or light-up snowman outside. Whenever we drive anywhere, he also points out trees that are on (have Christmas lights on them) and trees that are off (do not have Christmas lights on them). And, he also points out houses that are on and houses that are off. And, every-time we arrive at our house, he says All off. No Christmas at our house.
Cue broken-hearted mom.
Needless to say, I determined that I had to step up my game, because if my toddler wants to enjoy the Christmas season, I had better let him! I simply want to encourage the spirit of Christmas for as long as possible, because isn’t that magic part of being a kid?
So, for the first time in my adult life, my house now has Christmas lights up before the end of November. And, I even bought Little MPB a light-up snowman for our front yard, so he can say Hi Snowman whenever we come home.
We also went and saw Santa in November! In fact, we went the very first day Santa arrived at our local version of the North Pole. Little MPB loved meeting Santa! Since Little MPB’s visit with Santa he has told me that Santa is going to bring me a car toy. He also said Santa told me that unicorns like me.
And last weekend I actually put out Christmas decorations around our house, so now our house looks Christmassy inside and out! And, our tree will go up next weekend (we get a real tree so I cannot get one in November and expect it to last until Christmas). I’m really hoping this year that Little MPB will actually help decorate the tree and not take every decoration off the tree, although something tells me that will be another year away. But, I’m still willing to hope that we’ll get lucky enough that he’ll leave the tree alone and we can have decorations on the bottom half of our tree this year.
Needless to say, it’s officially starting to feel a lot like Christmas at the MPB house!
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My Perfect Breakdown 
I’ve had our tree up since the last weekend of October. Just lights, no ornaments. Girls pretty much left it alone so I had high hopes. Nope, put the ornaments on Friday night and Bella broke 2 within the first hour of being awake. Put the big play yard around it to try and keep it safe.
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Oh man, christmas tree up in October?! I couldn’t do it. hahah!
I don’t put any nice tree ornaments up with our destructive toddler around, maybe next year? Or maybe the year after?
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I love the ambience of the lights and that’s when the hallmark Christmas movies start. 😂😂😂
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Hahaha! I also do not like having Christmas up any earlier than December but I find myself wanting to get into it because of my child. Alas we still do not have our tree bc we haven’t made time to get it!
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I have to admit, I am so excited for Christmas this year! Something tells me my toddler will ensure this Christmas will be the most fun one I’ve ever had! He’s just at the perfect age to enjoy the magic. I hope your child loves Christmas this year too. 🙂
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I share your view and don’t put up any Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving (which in the USA is the third Thursday in November). And my sons have been shaming us the past two years because we simply don’t do outdoor lights, while a few of their neighborhood friends have elaborate displays. (Outdoor things are my husband’s responsibility, and he refuses.)
They love driving around and seeing the lights this time of year. And I must confess, I do, too.
BTW, I think “Santa told me that unicorns like me” is SO cute!!
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I totally do the outdoor lights, but they don’t go on the roof or anywhere I cannot reach. Which also means, they are not that elaborate! But I figure it’s better then nothing? And truth be told, this year Mr. MPB helped me put them up and built our Mr. Snowman.
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Our decorations always go up Thanksgiving weekend, and come down usually around New Year’s. I was worried about C this year, but she’s done really well! As I unwrapped ornaments, she took them to B to hang on the tree. She hasn’t bothered the tree too much either, so I haven’t had to put the gate around it. She loves seeing decorations out and about, so we want to do one of the drive through light things this year for her. As for Santa…she talks about him daily, and got so excited that we were going to see him. Then when she actually did see him, she freaked out!! Then talked about him all night again. These toddlers are nuts lol!
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Awe, that Santa story is adorable! Our kid was like, “hey stranger, can I sit on your lap?!”
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Hahahahahaha!!! C has still been talking about Santa nonstop. We’ll see how she does when we hit the mall to get our real Santa pics lol!
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I am in the exact same camp as you with no decorations up until after December starts. However I also ended up in the same boat as you with H suddenly noticing people’s lights on their houses and trees lit up in the outdoor mall that we drive by to leave his daycare every night. I talked to him lots about christmas, giving to those we love and the community (which he surprisingly understood!) and about santa and then one day he mentioned that santa can’t come to our house because we don’t have a tree. I said that we will have a tree up soon and he kept saying that santa isn’t coming ever. When I repeated the story to my husband that evening after H had gone to bed, in faster than I could blink, he had our tree out of its storage bag in the garage and put up in the living room for H to see when he woke up the next day. The sheer amount of joy in his face when he saw it was totally worth breaking the traditional “rules” i had in place. The tree still hasn’t been decorated yet but he still is loving it. But you better believe that thing is going to be down by new year’s day. I just simply can’t do the christmas decoration clutter for that long!
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Awe, I love that your husband went and got the tree out!! Because your right,t he sheer amount of joy in his face is priceless!
Something tells me my Christmas is only in December rule is going to be broken for at least a few more years.
And I’m with you, Christmas will be down before New Years! We actually have family coming in for New Years, so I will take things down before they come, because I don’t need a houseful of guests and Christmas crap everywhere!
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We let the kids (4 and 2) decorate the bottom half of the tree, so far they have only managed to break 1 ornament, fingers crossed that will be all.
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I think that’s how our tree decorating will go this year. It should be fun. Except I expect more then 1 ornament to get broken 🙂
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It’s def a cute age for Xmas. Holly keeps saying “Santa is coming to MY house”. Cuuuuuute. I usually let the kids persuade me to put the tree up in November these days. I try to wait until after the 21st as that’s my birthday and it feels weird to have xmas decs in my house on my birthday! We are looking forward to our Canadian xmas this year!!!!
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I am the same way with Christmas decorations (although it’s the day after American Thanksgiving as my start point). I did put up the tree a few days early this year because of a family visit but I wonder if it will change for me once S starts talking in the next year or two?
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I am seriously so excited for Christmas this year. Having a toddler at Christmas is pretty special 💕
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Aw that’s so sweet! Now he’s at the age that he can enjoy the whole Christmas experience more!
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I’m definitely a no tree up until mid December person, bit even with a 10 month old who doesn’t understand I’m itching to decorate earlier this year, I’m guessing I’ll be like you in a few years time
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I am with you on Christmas being for December! When he was little, I didn’t have the energy to decorate early. Now, Christmas stuff comes out after US thanksgiving and get put away before my mom goes back to work in January. It is special to get the Christmas decorations out and then put them away for next year. I also put Christmas music and books away, that way they stay special and I get to read other books.
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