When Do You Begin Decorating for the Holidays?

I try to get my holiday decorating done Thanksgiving weekend. We managed to pull it off this year, too. We have a small, artificial tree that we set up on a small table at the end of the couch. This helps keep the cats out of it. The toddler can still gawk at and touch the ornaments on the lower branches, but overall, the tree is safe from potential danger.

So far we have not been able to afford outdoor lights. I am really hopping, and somewhat planning to save for that for next year. I think the little one would really enjoy that. She loves looking at all the lights when we drive home from pre-school.

This year I kept the decorating really simple. It's pretty much just the tree and a couple of other items in the living room. I put one decoration in the bathroom. I'm going to be gone for two weeks after Christmas, so I didn't want to go overboard.

When do you usually begin decorating? How far do you go? Griswold-over-the-top? or keep it simple? When do you plan to decorations down? I'd love to hear from you!

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