Deck the Wha?

I peered out of my tryptophan haze yesterday and realized that people were decorating for Christmas.

I know many Jewish families that have decorated their houses for Christmas, but mine was never one of them. My parents have a collection of menorahs and they stay out all year round on a sideboard in their dining room -- that's the extent of their holiday decor. My apartment building hasn't done anything in the lobby just yet, but I noticed that some of my neighbors have begun to decorate their windows. And I saw that there are other buildings on our street that are, as one would say, "decked out".

Baffled as to how everyone seemed to know that this was the time to start putting up Christmas decor, I posed the following question on Twitter: "When do ppl decide that it's time to put up their Xmas decor? Pls educate the Jewish girl"

The responses I received were varied, amusing and, in some cases, insightful:

"ASAP after Turkey Day is the normal goya [sic] tradition"
"usually 1 or 2 days after Thanksgiving = )"
"When kids beg you long enough, when you have a free weekend or whatever time was YOUR family tradition. ie: No fixed time"
"Whenever mom says"
"in my neighborhood it was the week before thanksgiving. I prefer after thanksgiving."
"When I feel like I have the patience to wrestle with the Christmas lights."
"we just leave it up all year...goes well with the siding"    
"when my kids were little, we used to put up the tree after thanksgiving dinner. we are supposed to put it up 1st day of advent"


Okay, so either there is some rhyme and reason to when Christmas decor goes up - or there is none at all. But this is the time when everyone decorates, so I feel a little less out of the loop.