There are some good debates about how early you should be putting up your Christmas decorations. And considering that studies have shown that people who put up their Christmas decorations earlier tend to be happier , it’s a debate worth having.
Many people want to wait until after Thanksgiving to let the pilgrims and the turkeys have their time in the spotlight. At the bare minimum, it seems like the respectful thing to do would be to hold off until after Veterans Day.
Whatever your opinion, it’s something people take very seriously, as one family in Texas found out.
San Antonio’s Simonis family tried to get their decorations up a little earlier than usual, and it got them a slap on the wrist from their homeowners association.
November 1, the day right after Halloween, the scarecrows and the skeletons came in at the Simonis house, and the snowmen and the sleighs went out.
Nick and Claudia Simonis have a pretty good reason for getting their stuff out on the lawn, however. Claudia is eight months pregnant.
“I feel kind of heavy, so the earlier we can put out the decorations, the better,” she told WOAI . “Because probably in two more weeks, I’m not going to be able to build all this.”
So, with their lawn decked out with festive glee, Nick and Claudia felt they could ease up while waiting for the baby.
“We just wanted to get everything set up, so that way, we can relax,” Nick told CNN. “If the baby comes early, we don’t have to worry about it.”
Unfortunately, an inspector from their HOA either didn’t have the context or didn’t care, because in a matter of days, Nick and Claudia received a notice telling them to take their decorations down, saying it was too early to have them up and to “please remove the snowman until closer to the holiday season.”
Nick and Claudia were decidedly put out by the notice.
“I just found it crazy,” Claudia told WOAI. “Especially that they didn’t give us a time. Like, when is the right time to put it?”
All the notice said in terms of timing was to have it all down 10 days after Christmas, not when exactly it would be okay with the HOA for decorations to go up.
However, Nick and Claudia say they have no intentions of pulling their decorations back in, only to put them out again later.
“We’re not going to do it,” Nick said. “It’s the Christmas spirit. We’re not going to be forced by the HOA to take it down.”
What’s more, Nick and Claudia’s neighbors are solidly behind them, and some put up decorations of their own in solidarity.
“These are the holidays. This is what we do. We take care of our neighbors,” said Charles Minton. “That’s what a neighborhood is all about.”
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“It’s not bothering anyone, it’s gorgeous,” another neighbor said, according to ABC News .
So far, the HOA hasn’t commented further on the dispute.
Who knows, perhaps they’ll come around yet. Open defiance in the neighborhood might just have that effect.
What do you think? How early is too early for Christmas decorations?
