Janet Gruber walked slowly through Brown Floral, her gift shop, smiling and greeting people as they came in. Her eyes sparkled with the lights from her Christmas decorations she sells for her open house. Green wreaths, sparkly Christmas trees, shockingly red cardinals inside globes, and many more decorations were laid out around her store, lined up in neat rows. The bright and warm shop was a nice contrast to the cold, gray November afternoon. From the street, the glow of glittery decorations invited people in.
“Anything that lights up and is glittery, trees, globes, lanterns…anything that lights and flickers is probably the biggest trend,” Gruber said.
Gruber has learned, over her nearly three decades of owning a gift shop, that people decorate for Christmas at a wide variety of times. Some decorate in early November, while others wait until the last minute.
“We had people purchasing Christmas product as soon as we put it out in October, but I always have an open house the weekend before Thanksgiving, and that is when it probably starts the hardest,” Gruber said. “A lot of people will come in for the special holiday discounts…they’ll see a product that they like and they’ll come back later before Christmas to pick it up.”
There is certainly a variety of people who decorate early and late. And while some people absolutely hate the thought of decorating the day after Halloween, that happens to be what a lot of families do for varying reasons.
“We like to get everything out early, [because] our house is very hectic, so it’s easier to get it done early,” freshman Maya Valenti said.
Even though many families decorate early simply because it’s easier, in some cases, there is more to it than that. The feeling of the home with Christmas decorations up is different.
“I like [the feeling] a lot, because it just makes me think about how much we love each other,” Valenti said.
And while for many houses, decorating early works, that’s certainly not the case for everyone. There are many people who believe there is a much better and more appropriate time to decorate.
“[You should decorate] the day after Thanksgiving, because you have to celebrate Thanksgiving first, because it’s a major holiday,” Plattsmouth resident Linda Grunewald said.
Christmas music is another big aspect to consider. According to Spotify, Christmas music spiked in popularity around November 13 in the U.S. However, Grunewald has a different view.
“I don’t like Christmas music early. I like to get it the day after Thanksgiving, because we like to celebrate one holiday at a time, so after Thanksgiving is over, that’s when we do Christmas,” Grunewald said.
According to IBISWorld, an expert in market research, there are over 58,000 gift shops and card stores in the U.S. There are many people like Gruber who have had years upon years of experience in the space.
“I think they clear their table on Thanksgiving Day and start putting up Christmas decorations immediately,” Gruber said.
Even though people are divided on when to decorate, there are still things about the holiday season that bring them together. One of those things is the different kinds of traditions each family has.
“We do Christmas boxes, so everyone buys a bunch of random stuff and we put them in boxes, and then everyone gets a box and we get to trade our stuff. It’s kind of like white elephant,” Valenti said.
There are many different types of traditions, varying family to family. Some are random, and some are passed down from generation to generation and come from many different places.
“We hide a spider in the Christmas tree, it’s called the Christmas spider, and whoever finds the spider first gets to open the first present,” Grunewald said.
Even though people decorate at different times, listen to Christmas music at different times, and have different traditions, many people still celebrate Christmas in one way or another. This time of year is special for many families like Grunewald’s.
“(What I like about Christmas is) all the family getting together, and playing games, and remembering the birth of Jesus,” Grunewald said.