When do you decorate for Christmas? Do you pull out the tree on Thanksgiving after you've eaten dinner? Or maybe on Black Friday? Or, do you wait until December? Maybe you're a procrastinator who waits until two weeks before the big day to string up your lights.

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

Something happened and I'm still whirling from how fast it all went down, but I've embraced it more than I imagined I would.

My son woke up one Sunday morning in mid-October to our front yard covered in frost and started jumping up and down with excitement, yelling out, "It's Christmastime, it's Christmastime." My boy was so excited about his favorite holiday season that I didn't have the heart to correct him. Then, he asked if we could put up his Christmas tree in his bedroom. I didn't see any harm in putting it up early because it would just be in his bedroom and would make him happy.

Traci Taylor
Traci Taylor
loading...

We keep our trees and all of our decoration in a ginormous storage bag and after lugging it upstairs, my husband and I set out to set up our son's tree in his bedroom. While we assembled it, our son was in the living room and we could hear him whistling and thought of it as a win-win. He was happy and playing and we were getting stuff done without him underfoot.

Well...

When my husband and I walked into the living room, we discovered why our boy had been so happy. He'd climbed up on a chair and had started to assemble our main Christmas tree. He looked at us with such joy on his face. My husband's first reaction was to say it was too early and that the tree had to come down. I just shrugged and said I didn't really mind if it stayed up. And that's how our entire house became decorated for Christmas on in mid-October.

Traci Taylor
Traci Taylor
loading...

Until now, I'd only told a few people because peer pressure and judgment is a real thing and I just didn't even want to listen to any of it. I don't have time for negativity in my life. But as it turns out, my family might have been on to something. I'm not saying that you should make decorating your house for Christmas in early October a yearly thing, but you might want to consider decorating earlier rather than later especially if you're down in the slumps.

Psychologist Steve McKeown told UNILAD, “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.”  In other words, people who love Christmas and decorate early for it, are happier. Given the crud of 2020, we could all use a mood-boosting dose of happiness, so...haul out the holly!

LOOK: See what Christmas was like the year you were born

More From 98.1 The Hawk