By (self-invented) tradition, my Christmas decorations go up on or around Dec 18th. Reason 1, I consider the "official" Christmas season to be the one observed by the Church, namely from sunset on Christmas Eve until Twelfth Night. Don't agree with those who decorate at the beginning of December, then take everything down, dying tree shedding needles all over the carpet, as soon as Christmas actually - from my point of view - starts. Put it this way: if it were your nipper being born, would you put up balloons a month beforehand and take them down the minute it actually arrived? Anyway, what is there to celebrate before the Winter Solstice?

Reason 2 is that my birthday is on December 6th, and as Christmas cards stay up for twelve days, it seems appropriate to leave the birthday cards up for eleven.