Christmas spirit?

Dear community,
When does your Christmas spirit usually kick in? Is it during Advent, or more toward the Christmas holidays?

For me personally, it starts on the first Sunday of Advent, when the decorations are up and you see lots of lit-up windows, balconies, and front yards. November can be a bit dreary, but when everything is glowing so cozily, the dark season isn’t half as bad.

For me, it starts a week before the first Sunday of Advent. I start decorating and baking—with Christmas carols already playing in the background. 

Lots of candles and string lights are set out and are lit from late afternoon onward. With tea, it gets cozy and comfortable while I do crafts and Christmas gifts are made.
 

Right now, I’m more in the “I’m rearranging my apartment” mood.

After that, I’ll slowly start decorating.

I’m not quite in the Christmas spirit yet—though I just finished making a few Secret Santa gifts for some friends; we always do Secret Santa around this time. :-)
But I think the spirit will really kick in once my husband finishes restoring my parents’ old nativity scene. My dad built it in 1949, and I ended up with it :-) (There were five of us siblings, and we all wanted it.) Once it’s set up, I’ll really start feeling the Christmas spirit inside, too :-)

Love, Inge

For me, the Christmas spirit usually starts on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent, when I decorate the apartment for Christmas. But this year, it just won’t kick in: My husband’s been in the hospital every two weeks since August, our 24-hour caregiver had to go home because the agency went bankrupt and didn’t pay the wages, a frantic search for a new one, and with all the stress, I wrecked the car—now we need a new one really fast...
So it’s definitely not a “peaceful time.”

Oh dear, Ruth, that sounds tough.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you that the care arrangements work out.

Oh dear, Ruth, that sounds awful.
Hopefully everything will get sorted out quickly.
All the best to you.

I took my time decorating the week before the first Sunday of Advent; I still had COVID then, but I was already feeling much better. So I put that time to good use.