When Can I Put Up Christmas Decorations?
November 1st. The minute Halloween's over, you can start decorating. The lights wait until November 15th, and the music waits until the day after Thanksgiving.
The reasoning isn't complicated. The skeleton's lease runs out at midnight on Halloween, and after that the mantel is available. You've got about eight weeks until Christmas and you paid good money for all of that stuff, so you might as well look at it for more than 25 days. Decorating is also quiet work. A garland has never followed anyone through a grocery store.
A decoration, for the purposes of this ruling, is anything you wouldn't have out in March. Garland counts. Stockings count. The ceramic village counts, and so does the single snowman on the bathroom counter that you think nobody's noticed. A bowl of pinecones is a gray area, and the Court would like you to stop testing it.
Starting on November 1st doesn't mean you have to finish on November 1st. The sensible order is indoors first, then the wreath and the fake tree, then the outdoor lights. Thanksgiving still gets its day. Clear enough of the table for the turkey and don't make anyone eat around a nativity.
A few things have their own dates. Outdoor lights come on November 15th. Real trees wait for December 1st, because a cut tree only has about four good weeks in it. Music waits for the day after Thanksgiving, and yes, that means you'll be decorating in silence for a while, like a professional.
As for the other end, everything's legal through January 6th, when the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas run out. You may start taking things down on December 26th if you need to feel something.
The Ruling: Allowed from November 1 through January 6.
This ruling comes from a joke website. There is no court. The dates are our opinion, and the practical tips are ordinary common sense, so use your own judgment.