Letter from the Editor: It's an age-old dilemma - when should you put up your Christmas decorations?

Christmas is coming (32 days away if you’re wondering) and I’m facing the same dilemma I face every year about this time – what is the right date to start putting up Christmas decorations?

In our house the date is often dictated by social events and usually falls whenever there is a free weekend to dedicate to the annual tree and lights decorating.

I confess I’m one of those people who loves Christmas and all its trimmings and I own a growing collection of festive bits that decorate the house both indoors and out.

As soon as No 1 favourite son was old enough to stand up, I roped him in to help me put up the Christmas tree. The happy snaps in the album were all taken at the start of the process – happy, smiling mum and son wearing silly santa hats in front of a bare tree.

Thankfully there are none at the end of the process after tears and tantrums (from mum), a bored son and a Christmas tree that’s on a lean because someone (son) only wanted to hang stuff on one side. Probably the only side he could reach, but in my defence, it wasn’t symmetrical.

Meanwhile, the Grinch of the house made himself scarce so he couldn’t be called in to referee or take sides between wife and son. Smart man.

We usually had that annual mother-son bonding experience sometime in December but while I was out and about this week, I noticed a growing number of houses already had Christmas trees standing proudly in front windows.

Do these households have little kids who’ve been counting down to Santa’s arrival for weeks and putting up the tree was just a natural progression, or are these residents just showing off how bloody organised they are?

I understand why shopping centres are all tarted up in tinsel and trees early in November – they want to make sure people don’t forget that Christmas is on 25 December and remind them of this every single day until then.

But isn’t six weeks out from the big day just a tad too early? I think even I would suffer Christmas fatigue if I went out that soon.

My brother-in-law had it nailed – he just didn’t take down the Christmas lights at all. He’d take great delight in sitting back with a beer, watching the neighbours sweat and swear as they struggled to put their lights up. He just flicked a switch and smirked.

This year I decided to see if good old Google could come up with the answer to my decorating dilemma.

If we lived in the Philippines, I’d be running months late with my Christmas decorating – apparently festivities begin there as early as September.

If we lived in the time of Romans, or during the Victorian period, it was customary to decorate the tree on Christmas Eve. I’ve got far too much to do on Christmas Eve to be decorating a tree – and besides, Christmas is practically over by then.

According to one UK story, there’s a growing trend for families to start setting up their trees as soon as Halloween is over – that’s 31 October in case you weren’t aware.

Definitely not the answer I was after.

So I figured an Australian site would be more accurate. According to Better Homes and Gardens (they should know, right?), setting up your tree on 1 December, or the first Sunday in December or the second Saturday in December, is most popular.

Christians may choose to put the tree up on the first day of Advent – the first Sunday of the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day, which often falls somewhere between 27 November and 3 December.

Now that sounds doable and much more practical. I still have a couple of weeks to pull out all seven of the correctly labelled Christmas tubs containing lights (indoor and out) and decorations.

But what if you’re a purist and love a real Christmas tree? I love the smell of a real tree but living with a Grinch made it easier years ago to buy a fake one – with LED lights built-in to avoid the tree light tantrums – and just buy Christmas tree-scented candles, oils and sprays to get that sweet smell.

Most real Christmas trees really only last for four weeks, and even then you need to care for them. It’s not a good look for the family to sit around dead sticks as they open their pressies on Christmas morning.

And besides, fake trees can last for years, so you’re doing your bit for sustainability and the environment.

After doing all this research, it turns out there is no correct date to start your Christmas decorating; it’s entirely up to you when you have the time and energy to do it.

And this year, with the imminent arrival of two beautiful little feline fur balls in the Whitehouse, I think I might avoid the Christmas tree dilemma entirely to avoid disaster.

Now, I wonder when should those decorations come down ….