When to put up Xmas deco

Making Christmas decorations is as easy or hard as you make it. For some who love shopping, it’s probably a cer­tainty to whip to the shops and spend big to make the house look colourful and exciting.
While others prefer to get into the Christmas spirit and keep their wallets happy with bonuses, making decora­tions is great fun but the question is when do you put your Christmas dec­orations at home?
Is everything up or you wait until just a few days left before Christmas day?

And is it the lights, the tree and tin­sel, or something completely different?
Some prefer not to decorate at all, or hate it because it causes arguments within the family. Maybe that is all part of the fun.
There are several ways of Christmas decorations and it is the norm that the traditional colours are pine green (evergreen), snow white, and heart red.

Gold and silver are also very com­mon, and just about any other metallic colours.
Well, Saturday Lifestyle caught up with some locals who shed light on Christmas decorations.
According to lifestyle coach guru Leslie Mandizha in Avonlea, the                     tradition of hanging a wreath on the front door in the run-up to Christmas comes from an old Catholic ritual.

“The advent — or the season prior to Christmas Day — is a significant time, and a circular wreath is hung on the door. The circle symbolises that there is no beginning or end and that God is eternal,” she said.
Mandizha emphasised that a more traditional advent wreath contains four candles in the circle and one candle in the middle.
Monalisa (38), a mother of two from Westgate, said Christmas decorating shows that you are already in the mood, hence it depends with each individual how you appreciate it.

“We decorate the house with Christ­mas lights the first week of December. If you put them up 10 days before Christmas, there is no point in having any decorations. Presents should be put under the tree on the eve,” she                said.
Monalisa said she has already put all the decorations up and this year her friends has brought loads of flashing outdoor lights and a giant outdoor inflatable snowman.

“This year the party is at my house and all of my friends have contributed to that. Our house is going to look per­fect for Christmas,” she said.
Tatenda Makura, a stockbroker with a local firm, said early decorations help to save time and they are a reminder that the time is near.
“My tree went up on the 29th of November. We normally put them up on the 1st of December but that was a school day as I always want my two beautiful daughters to participate. As of Christmas lights, I think they should go up around the first weekend of December to serve as a reminder and then come down in the New Year!” he said.

Makura, who lost his father in June this year, says: “Together with my fam­ily it is as tradition, but it’s the first Christmas without my dad, and mum says that we have to find new traditions this year and that we all need a bit of Christmas spirit, so we put them up early.”
He said that gone are the days when the Christmas deco is regarded as the white man’s idea as long back in the rural areas people used to do it.

“I remember in 1991 in Gokwe, when we would decorate our huts with my brother using grass and mud. We would make our Santa Claus using mud and it was exciting,” narrated the stockbroker.  
However, to some Christmas isn’t about Jesus and stuff because they are atheists.
“It’s about family and Santa and hav­ing a good time, and that’s what we want to do this year.

Supermarkets, boutiques and café’s among others have already put up the Christmas decorations symbolising that they already in mood.
“I am surprised with some shops which are just ignorant about this dec­orations thing. Every year, my family gathers at my house to visit, feast, sing karaoke, play pool, exchange gifts, drink alcohol, and have a good time. We put up a Christmas tree and hang lights on the house, and my dad hangs lights up at the entrance to the subdivi­sion,” said Mitchelle Martins of Bor­rowdale.

She said Christmas traditions and deco in our family exist not to celebrate Jesus, but to bring joy to our family and give lasting memories to the members of our family.