What are your favorite Christmas traditions? How soon until you start doing them?
What about Christmas decorations? When will do you put them up?
Do you wait until Thanksgiving is over or do you decorate as soon as November 1 starts?
Some people think people who put up Christmas decorations are crazy.
But, in fact, people who put up Christmas decorations are happier.
Experts say that putting up Christmas decorations early reminds us of happy childhood memories. The Christmas decorations bring out the inner child in us.
“Although there could be a number of symptomatic reasons why someone would want to obsessively put up decorations early, most commonly for nostalgic reasons either to relive the magic or to compensate for past neglect,” psychoanalyst Steve McKeown explained.
Putting up Christmas decorations early allow us to have an escape from our stress and from “adulting.”
“Decorations are simply an anchor or pathway to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement. So putting up those Christmas decorations early extends the excitement!” Steve McKeown continued.
Think about it.
When you decorate the mantle with Christmas stockings or place the ornaments on your Christmas tree, how do you feel?
“In a world full of stress and anxiety, people like to associate to things that make them happy and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood,” Steve McKeown said.
Are you convinced yet?
Will you be removing the Christmas decorations from the storage yet? Do you need more convincing?
“Nostalgia helps link people to their personal past and it helps people understand their identity. For many, putting up Christmas decorations early is a way for them to reconnect with their childhoods,” psychotherapist Amy Morin said.
So what’s your theme for this year’s Christmas decorations? How will you decorate your house?
And do you know what else happens when you decorate for Christmas early?
People, especially your neighbors, will see you in a different light.
“People see those with Christmas decorations as a cue that the residents were friendly and cohesive. Decoration interacted with sociability in a complex but interpretable way,” as published by Science Direct.
Decorating early can also bring joy to your neighborhood or your building.
And isn’t that what we need during this crisis? Christmas decorations can give us and our families hope and joy.
And it can give the same feeling of hope and joy to the people who live around us or even the people who’ll be driving past our homes.
Isn’t that always a great thing? It’s keeping the spirit of Christmas alive!
Although, for some people, Christmas is a reminder of people they’ve lost in their lives. It’s not about being sad but keeping their memories alive.
“It may be a bittersweet feeling. Perhaps the holidays serve as a reminder of when a loved one was still alive. Or maybe looking at a Christmas tree reminds someone of what life was like when they still believed in Santa,” Steve McKeown explained.
Who cares if people make fun of your decoration? You’re happy and that’s what matters, right?
Or with the year that we’ve had, don’t we all deserve to be happy?
And besides, no matter what you do, there will always be someone else who will decorate for Christmas earlier than you do. In the Philippines, once September 1 clocks in, the Christmas decorations go up. It’s the longest Christmas celebration in the world!
Watch the video below to learn more about the studies made about people decorating for Christmas earlier than everyone else.
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