It’s Okay to Feel Festive and Spread the Joy (Even this Early in the Season)
As Halloween (my favorite holiday, aside from Christmas, which is the “big show” of it, of course) came and went, I took my Halloween decor down and lamented the end of a super-fun and spooky weekend with my friends, and it hit me: this year, I’m feeling extra festive, and I wanted to go ahead and put up my Christmas, holiday-season decor.
“BUT WAIT!” I thought— “It’s only November 4th!”
In recent years, I never would’ve put up holiday decor this early; I would’ve scoffed at putting up Christmas and wintery decor before Thanksgiving (another holiday I love), and simply waited for no other reason than… well, no reason, really. But this year, something felt different. This year has been a year full of celebrating a return to life, and I wanted to get on with it already, so to speak, and start reveling in the cozy twinkle lights and spreading the holiday season joy a little early, and so— I did!
I put my Christmas decor up on November 4th this year, and I’m loving it. Here’s why it’s okay to do that, and to feel festive in general, and why many of us may need it this year now more than ever before.
It’s okay to start the holiday season early, if it brings you joy and makes you smile.
Celebrating the holidays early this season— because we’ve earned it
Let’s be real— 2021 was a wonderful return to life for many of us, as vaccines rolled out and COVID-19 becomes more manageable with said vaccines and new treatments, and it’s been a wonderful year to date for me, personally, and for many of my friends and family. That said, this year feels appropriate to start celebrating life and spreading joy, as much as we’re able, now more than ever.
Because of that, this year I decided to jump the gun and deck the halls mere days after Halloween, and I’m loving it. I sent pictures of twinkle lights and Santa Claus decor galore to my parents (who absolutely loved it), and I even coerced Andrew into buying a tree early this season. We put our dog in her holiday sweater and had a mini-photo shoot. We laughed, smiled, and sipped white wine while decking the halls (albeit prematurely) and shared photos with our friends. We invited them all to come over soon and start doing fun, wintery things with us— we started getting into the spirit, and early, and that’s okay.
Because guess what? It brings us joy. It brings our family and friends joy— and why not allow that joy to start early and go for as long as possible through the holiday season?
Anyways, the TL;DR point of this all is this— it’s okay to feel festive, to celebrate, and to embrace the more fun and joyful parts of life for as long as we can, especially after the last 1.5 years we’ve all had.
So, that said, I’ll leave you with this— happy holidays, and enjoy it, no matter what or how you celebrate! Cheers.
Xoxo, MM.