When it comes to decorating for Christmas do you go wild like your parents did or tone it down?
Posted by singleguy79@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 94 comments
SessionOwn6043@reddit
I need all the sparklies... Like Jeremy from Secret of NIHM. Only indoors, though. Outside I usually just have a wreath.
NicolesPurpleHair@reddit
My mum loved Christmas but my dad did and still does everything he can to ruin it, usually pouting, starting a fight, whatever. So while my mum tried, he’d usually if not ruin it totally, just grumble and complain the entire season about how Christmas “isn’t the same, too commercialized”, not caring he was ruining the magic for his family. My husband and I love it and try to go all out now that I’m an adult and can make my own choices and try to help my mum, but I’m tired, it’s hard. My dad will still ruin it no matter whatever.
Ineedavodka2019@reddit
I do low key Christmas. Just enough to look festive. Tree, stockings, two indoor lighted garlands, a few sparse outside lights, and a couple table decorations. I’m currently looking for something to put in my tall outdoor planters but am coming up with nothing. The Boston ferns looked great but winter would kill them.
OddScene7116@reddit
I always did the tree, lights, wreath, and stockings bit up until a few years ago, just like my parents did when I was a kid. But as I’ve gotten older (42 now), I’ve become fairly minimalist and much more sensitive to visual noise. I used a tiny table top tree for a few years, but finally got rid of that sad, spiky mess of plastic last year. This year I got a potted Norfolk pine as a gift for my very elderly cat (she loves it!) that also serves as a beautiful houseplant and as a Christmas tree that I plan to decorate with a string of lights and just a few sentimental ornaments. Other than the tree, I just gather a few fallen pine branches and cones after a windy day or storm, and decorate a couple of areas with those.
Helo7606@reddit
I despise Christmas. So I don't decorate at all.
HallucinogenicFish@reddit
My parents never went wild (just a tree and stockings), but I do way less. As in, nothing.
Lensgoggler@reddit
I definitely decorate more but it's fairly easy to do as I was born in what was the end of Soviet Union. Xmas wasn't allowed to be celebrated at Xmas for 50ish years. Soviet Union had a different version of it, celebrated in NYE. Some people still celebrated Xmas but behind closed doors and curtains drawn.
As a result, our house only had tree ornaments and some modest lights. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, it took a while to gear up, and it basically never got too festive in my childhood home.
I felt I needed more so I keep gathering new things each year... I try to limit myself tho. I still have a long way to go to reach an average American level. 😀
SoNotMyDayJob@reddit
My parents didn’t. I do. Christmas with the Cranks style.
azazel-13@reddit
Fuck no. I don't even put up a tree. I hate Christmas.
degeneratesumbitch@reddit
Xmas sucks.
ACatNamedWolf@reddit
Nice to know I'm not the only one!
coffeegogglesftw@reddit
You're my people! I'm honestly getting scroogier every year. I just can't be bothered, and being a childless heathen, my mom (who goes craaaazy with decorating) is the only one who chastises me.
Muderous_Teapot548@reddit
I have a pre-lit LED tree, lights along the window where the tree is, a wreath, and a door mat.
Since I have little littles, I use plain, plastic, ball ornaments. I really want lights along the eves of our house, but we'll need them done professionally. So, we're looking at options for year-round lighting. Our HOA just approved it provided you don't blind your neighbor.
BrassHockey@reddit
I just marvel that they found the time to do what they did. And we were always very modest.
Now I'm so busy chasing my own tail in my day to day that the holiday just slips by.
gnrlgumby@reddit
Getting there. They had a lifetime of acquiring weird decorative knickknacks, we’ve only just begun.
Rude_Man_Who_Shushes@reddit
Bigger but classier
often_awkward@reddit
My wife really likes to do it, I don't like to clean it up so we've been toning it down over the years.
Rare-Airport4261@reddit
I spent my 20s and most of my 30s having very stylish, almost minimalist Christmas decor, but the older I get, the more nostalgic I get for all the colours and craziness of my childhood Christmases. My approach now is as extra as I can get away with without annoying my partner.
My_11th_Account@reddit
Bah!
Willing_Actuary_4198@reddit
I don't at all
Nikki10021982@reddit
I go as wild as I can in a small apartment. I add to my lights and penguin displays each year.
marmot1101@reddit
My parents did very simple decorating. Tree, some cute napkins, wreath and candles in the window. I otoh have a rainbow Christmas unicorn and a few other small similarly ridiculous things. My dad and I may have different tastes, but roughly the same decorating effort thresholds.
StillhasaWiiU@reddit
I have nothing to celebrate. So I don't decorate.
BananasPineapple05@reddit
I don't decorate for Christmas.
My parents shared custody. My little brother was crazy for Christmas like it was his guru or something. Every year, we were made to decorate two separate Christmas trees and then un-decorate them whenever the parentals decided to take them down.
I am never putting up another Christmas decoration in this lifetime.
ASingleThreadofGold@reddit
I'm so glad my husband is Jewish so I have an extra excuse for not having to decorate for Christmas. Maybe I'd be more into it if it was every 5 years or so. But it's a lot to do every single year.
Sweet_Priority_819@reddit
I hate clutter and never decorated for any holiday as an adult. I also had divorced parents and christmas was such a stressful, unpleasant time. There's no pleasure or happy memories in those forced "putting up the decorations" times.
BananasPineapple05@reddit
See, I don't love clutter, but I prefer it to my mother's and step-mother's home décor style of "let's sanitize this room to within an inch of its life". I just draw a hard line at Christmas decorations, or decorations for any holiday whatsoever.
It's exactly as you say: No pleasure or happy memories in being forced to put them up then put them down because my brother was really into Christmas (still is, btw) and the parentals (both sets) really couldn't give a rat's behind.
spotcatspot@reddit
We grew up with screaming and a death march to put up endless Christmas decorations because my mother demanded it. We’re pretty tame on decorations as a result, except for Halloween.
Feeling-Visit1472@reddit
Every time I go crazy, I end up regretting it when it’s time to come down.
kg51113@reddit
I do more in some ways and less in other ways.
As an adult, I put a lot of lights and garland up all through the house. Lights in every window - battery lights if no convenient outlet. I don't have outdoor plugs to put up a bunch of decorations. The only outdoor plug is in the back where nobody would see things.
My parents had more little decorations and places to put them. Candle wreath and little statues on the stereo. Not a lot of decorations around the house. As kids, we were given old strings of lights or bought some with allowance money and decorated our rooms.
boommerz420@reddit
My parents did bare minimum my girlfriend goes completely insane....same with halloween
FredOaks15@reddit
Wilder. Every year wilder. I love it
Deesmateen@reddit
Same. Every year my parents one upped themselves and I’m doing the same. I love it so much. Last year I got the permanent lights so now I can spend more time on the trees bushes
LostMyPercolatorFish@reddit
I want it to come and go as quickly as possible, maybe a small family dinner if anything
Specimen-B@reddit
I don't do as much as I'd like on the outside, but I definitely take it up a notch from my parents on the inside. If Halloween is time to unleash spooky horror, then Christmas is time for magic and fantasy.
My tree has built in lights and I put lights on top of that. It looks like fairies live in it by the time I'm done (I time the two sets of lights so that the tree looks alive).
We've got several Santas, including a wood carved wind-up one and an 18 inch Victorian looking one that looks like he's trekking through the snow. I've got even more snowmen. Nutcrackers, snowglobes, This really majestic reindeer statue, enormous wreaths, a Christmas village, and of course all of our stockings.
I've got an eye for detail when it comes to this sort of thing. I'd push it even further if I had the money. It's just a great way to break up the monotony of the year and get a change of scenery. It's tiring the day I put it all up and take it down, but it's so worth it on those quiet Christmas nights by the tree as it lights up my little wonderland.
Avasia1717@reddit
my mom was the big decorator. since she died, my dad comes to my place for christmas. he doesn’t decorate his house at all and i decorate mine about 1/3 as much as she did.
broken_mononoke@reddit
I go simple. I live in an apartment and I've moved a lot. I don't have space to store a bunch of decorations like a boomer and lugging them around every time I move sucks.
Also most decorations nowadays are cheap plastic shit. I have a few things high quality decorations I inhereted from my grandma when she passed like a 1980s Hallmark Santa statue and a beautiful 12 days of Christmas music box. Other than those things, a little door wreath, and my mini tree that's all I can manage.
tandem545@reddit
My parents most always worked holidays. We never did much. They would probably say decorating is a waste of money. Now I have my own family I love the holidays and look forward to it!
5starsomebody@reddit
I decorate but I am really rigid about it? My parents would always fight over when to get the tree(usually 8 pm on the 24th) and wouldn't take it down until after January so I already have set dates (a little before Thanksgiving) when everything gets done and we do treats and take everything down on the 26th. It sounds crazy, but I play music and we make it really fun, and burn the front door wreath in the fire pit the night of the 26th so my kids are into it, even though they will probably end up like my parents in response to my OCD
elphaba00@reddit
My mom has a huge Christmas village and a house full of Santa figurines. She claims it’s “not much.” Her tree is also filled to the brim with wrapped presents because, in addition to family, she gets a gift for each one of her friends.
Me? I have a small 3-foot tree that I begrudgingly put up after December 1. I only buy gifts for my kids, parents, and husband. I put most gifts in gift bags. I don’t wrap Santa gifts. I don’t send out cards. I’m not a Grinch. I’m just not interested
PaleoHumulus@reddit
Our home growing up was never terribly over the top, although there was definitely plenty of Christmas decor. I have toned it down a little bit, but we still have a tree and the various Christmas decorations around the house. Probably the biggest change is that we usually string up lights in our living room around the ceiling, but that's more by virtue of the kind of house I live in now versus what I grew up in. The one area where we have scaled back is when we put up decorations... I am a bit of a liturgical season purist, and so like to put off the Christmas tree until only the week before Christmas, rather than right after Thanksgiving. I suppose that makes me not a strict liturgical season purist in the end, but I definitely like to save Christmas for Christmas, rather than having 6 weeks or whatever like some folks do. That said, I'm not too upset by how people decorate in their own households! You do you.
Dillenger69@reddit
I went wild once. Then I realized I also had to take it all down. Screw that.
HeadlineBay@reddit
My husband (we’re both the same age) thinks decorations should be modest and coordinated, and I think it should look like Festive Joy threw up on your house.
cardie82@reddit
I’m with you. We’ve got a hodgepodge. Some are from when I was a kid and we’ve got things we’ve purchased from our 20+ years together. It’s not coordinated but everything is a good memory.
cardie82@reddit
I love Christmas. I decorate, bake cookies, and sing along with every song. It makes me happy.
JamesMattDillon@reddit
My parents never really did anything except put up a tree and hang the stockings. I got a little glass tree that you can put little bulbs in and it lights up, that I put in my room
toootired2care@reddit
My parents didn't go wild so I'm all in with decorations! Luckily for my husband, he's the same!
kayla622@reddit
My parents' Christmas decorations were fairly basic: a string of Christmas lights outside, a Christmas tree, a wreath, some knick knacks, and some garland. The decorations were contained to the front part of the house. My sister and I would put Christmas lights up in our rooms, but that was about it.
As an adult, I do basically the same. Because whenever I put up decorations, all I can think about is having to clean it up again.
HAYYme@reddit
I’d say I’m an equal or slightly more of a decorator than my parents. I love doing up the holidays (and I’ve got little kids)
Triala79@reddit
My parents only did a tree and some stockings from a shelf (we didn't have a fireplace). It was all promptly put away on Dec 26. They weren't and still aren't religious and Xmas wasn't a big deal. They didn't do the tree from the time I was in high school to the time my nephew was born and now that he's in high school they have stopped again. I do even less. (I have a table runner with poinsettias on it)
Schmuck1138@reddit
Outside, almost nothing. We are out in the country, with trees on the perimeter.
Inside, a tree, and a winter village thing my wife got from her grandmother.
hairballcouture@reddit
We have a low effort Christmas at our house. Just a plug in, table top light up tree that the cat likes to munch on. It’s more of a charcuterie tree for him.
Andy016@reddit
None ever. No kids. No point.
therog08@reddit
My parents didn’t go wild. If I didn’t put up decorations there wouldn’t have been any
Dame_Ingenue@reddit
I’d say I go equally wild. I have two trees and a lot of nostalgic decorations.
ZetaWMo4@reddit
Much wilder. My parents just did a Christmas tree and stockings. I decorate nearly every room.
exqvisitely@reddit
Growing up we always had a Christmas tree, and my mom would decorate the inside of our home a little bit. Nothing crazy. I don't consider myself a big holidays person, but Christmas is the one holiday that I'd kind of like to decorate for. My main issue is lack of space. I have no good spot for a tree and nowhere to store decorations when they're not being used. I always spend Christmas several states away from home, so I don't feel it's absolutely necessary for me to decorate my place. (This year I ended up purchasing a fancy advent calendar to enjoy over the weeks leading up to Christmas, so I'll have something a little festive to enjoy.)
TheSnacktition@reddit
I just buy a big bouquet of flowers, which all come in a holiday theme that time of year.
My mother’s house can be seen from space.
Kinky-Bicycle-669@reddit
I'll be honest some years I don't even bother to put up the tree.
sunnyD6481@reddit
I think if we had kids I would definitely decorate more than I do. We have a 4ft prelit tree that I decorated 10plus years ago that I keep in the basement and pull out after Thanksgiving then just bring the whole thing down after New Years. Our house is not even close to the road at all so no decorations or lights outside. My mother's house is like the North Pole and I love seeing the ornaments from my childhood that she saved.
DarkenL1ght@reddit
Parents didn't go wild, neither do we. A tree, a cookie jar, an advent calendar, welcome mat, and stockings is about it. Maybe a string of lights on the stair railing and a knickknack or two.
itsasnowconemachine@reddit
None. I work retail. I loathe Christmas.
cuteness_vacation@reddit
This is it for me. I worked retail for way too long. My Christmas spirit is on life support.
Smurfblossom@reddit
My parents never went wild, just a simple tree and some lights. I no longer celebrate Christmas so I happily skip all the decorations.
HermioneMarch@reddit
I don’t have the energy or the $. My house growing up looked like a magazine. And it was lovely. But my house will never look like a magazine so I am not gonna try.
here_we_go2324@reddit
Definitely toned down. We have a small tree, a few decorations in the living room, and bust out a couple Christmas candles. It's nice to be around my parents' set up at Christmas for a few days, but just not our style to overdo things.
cloudydays2021@reddit
I keep it really simple. Just a little bit of decorating on my mantle. I haven’t had a tree in years.
emmianni@reddit
I go wild like my parents didn’t.
ChicagoRex@reddit
Just bought a house this year, and we're not sure if we're gonna decorate beyond a tree inside. If we do, it'll just be a few lights.
We did decorate for Halloween though!
cmgww@reddit
My parents didn’t go overboard but we did lights on the house, the old school colored glass bulbs which I still love to this day. They’re hard to find now, the LED versions just aren’t the same. We did a tree (tinsel in the 80s, more modern in the 90s) and some stuff but nothing crazy.
We don’t put the tree up until right about Thanksgiving, I’m not one of these people who is putting stuff up just after Halloween. we do an advent calendar for our kids, the stupid elf (they love it, I can’t stand it), stockings, and a really nice tree. I wouldn’t call it going overboard, but with small children we try to make it fun
eaglewatch1945@reddit
Grew up poor, but we had outdoor lights on the gutters, a 5ft artificial tree with lots of hand-me-down ornaments centered over a modest Lionel train set and Xmas village.
These days, I don't go overboard. More outdoor lights. Bigger tree, but no room for the village underneath. My wife keeps adding to indoor decor on every trip to Hobby Lobby and Home Goods and such.
Chance_Top5775@reddit
toned way down. we decorate the fireplace mantel and have a table-top tree that fits on the coffee table. my mother is the type who will change the kitchen towels, potholders, etc. to christmas themes and the bathroom gets hit with holiday themed decor, too. a million things in the yard, some years it's two trees in her house, a nativity display, etc. and a giant tiny village that takes up every available surface. she has enough christmas at her place that i just don't bother
delibertine@reddit
My wife and I have a stuffed hamster in a little Santa hat we put up every year in some random funny place. That's about it
Deep-Interest9947@reddit
Does anyone else remember the book “Santa Mouse”? I loved it so much. I don’t care about decorations but I loved reading Christmas books.
blueberry_pancakes14@reddit
Kind of the opposite.
My parents had a pretty simple set up, still do. Christmas lights on the house, a faux wreath on the door, real Christmas tree in the living room, a handful of small trinkets and bobbles around the house, a Christmas potholder or two. Our tree was filled with collected and gifted ornaments from over the years, usually with some special meaning behind them.
I have lights on the house, a bunch of light up yard decorations, door mat, faux poinsettias in my pots by my front door (I only have faux flowers in there, can't keep real ones alive), a a faux wreath on the door, real Christmas tree in my living room, a couple of handfuls of small trinkets and bobbles around the house, my table decorated with my Christmas tablecloths, Christmas plates, Christmas glasses, Christmas hand towels in the kitchen, Christmas hand towels in the bathroom. My tree now is also filled with collected and gifted ornaments from over the years, again special meanings. Now I like to try and find an ornament from my travels to add. Plus just ones I find I really like.
I love Halloween and I love Christmas, they're basically the only holidays I decorate for. I have some autumn colored faux flowers and two wreaths for Thanksgiving/autumn, but nothing for any other holiday. My parents also don't really decorate for other holidays, other than maybe a piece or two for Fall not specifically Halloween.
Dismal-Kangaroo6327@reddit
I decorate way more than my parents did!
Deep-Interest9947@reddit
My mother is and always has been obsessed with hallmark ornaments. I haven’t put up a tree in over a decade and even when I did it was just a white tree with generic ornaments. I am a serious disappointment.
Myrtle_Snow_@reddit
My mom let me pick out a Hallmark ornament every year as a kid and kept them for me to put on my own tree as an adult. Really a sweet idea but it’s way too much work to pull those stupid things out of their boxes every year and then put them back in at the end, so they sit in a dusty tote in the garage 🤷♀️
Myrtle_Snow_@reddit
Tone. It. Down. My parents house looks like a tackier version of the Griswolds 🙈
Patient_Character730@reddit
My mom would decorate for Christmas. She would put out her nativity scene every year, she had a bunch of hand made ornaments. She does less now because we don't always go home for Christmas and it's a lot of work for her. She has a small tabletop tree these days.
I go all out. I love decorating, the entire house and the outside too. I have boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations, two different sets of Christmas dishes, and I just love it all so much. Maybe one day I'll also need to tone it back some, but for now while my kids still are with us for Christmas I am going the full mile.
Overall-Scientist846@reddit
We go wild still. Which is funny cause my partner doesn’t celebrate Christmas in her family/religion. Doesn’t stop us from celebrating and embracing it for my fam/religion I was raised with.
I get it from my Dad who LOVES going crazy for Christmas. He got it from his Mother, my Nan who did the same thing. It’s such a cozy feeling when it’s all done up.
Transplanted_Cactus@reddit
I use to go wild with Christmas. Three or four trees of various sizes/colors/themes, lots of other decorations, Christmas lIghts outside. Christmas was always a huge event in my family, everyone went all out for it. It was and still is my favorite time of year.
But now I have chronic fatigue and cats and no one ever comes to my house anyway. Yes I am very depressed about all of that (except the cats).
ljd09@reddit
My parents didn’t decorate - my mom has even stopped celebrating (sorta, she’s cheap and doesn’t like buying gifts… but she doesn’t want to be left out of the actual day.) and I medium decorate every year. Everyone comes to my house for Christmas and I want my nephews (none of my own, yet) to have a memorable Christmas every year.
JoeNoHeDidnt@reddit
My parents did not decorate like wild and openly mocked neighbors who did. So I make a point to go a little wild and have fun in ways that make me happy and I also try to un-learn the habit of judging others as harshly as my parents still do.
YarnBunny@reddit
I love holidays! I decorate for most of them.
Fraudulent_Beefcake@reddit
I don't decorate at all but I'm lazy af.
Pinkkorn69@reddit
My parents put up a tree and that was it. We have a ceramic Christmas tree that was our grandparents and that's all we put up. I hate holiday decorations, I blame too many customer facing jobs.
Lemmy_Axe_U_Sumphin@reddit
If I didn’t have a kid I’d do nothing. It makes her happy though so I at least do the basics.
Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit
full out Chipmunk Xmas! but always open to new experiences
-SaturdaysChild78-@reddit
I have a single strand of 20 white lights I keep up year round. My parents had BOXES of Xmas decorations that would come down from the attic every year.
Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit
so full Griswald
-SaturdaysChild78-@reddit
😂😂
violetstrainj@reddit
I have lived in tiny spaces for pretty much my entire adulthood, so there were years where I didn’t have a tree at all. Now, I have one 18” tree that sits on a narrow bookshelf that we use to stash the presents, and we hang our stockings right above the tree and that’s the extent of our Christmas decorating.
spoookiehands@reddit
I have a tree with ornaments and a few table top decorations. But don't go all out decorating the outside of the house like my parents.