Science Says Early Christmas Decorating Makes You Happy

I am usually not on board with this in the slightest.  We wait until Thanksgiving weekend... as a rule.  But this year it's been a little tough having to put our little 17 year old Bichon/Poo down a week ago, and Thanksgiving is a week later than it generally is too.  So, let's bring a little cheer into our lives with some holiday decorating.

Apparently holiday decorating can bring out your inner child... and that's a good thing.

According to a psychoanalyst Steve McKeown, hanging holiday decorations can reawaken the childlike wonder that work, rent, bills, taxes, laundry, putting together Ikea furniture, and other grownup stuff has grinched out of the inner child in all of us. And those childhood magical emotions are important to preserve because they bring us to a simpler time in our personal pasts for nostalgic reasons.

And I'm considering our little dog a member of the family... as he definitely was, so there is also this...

Even if you're mourning a family member, stringing up glittery lights and heirloom ornaments can make you feel closer to the people you've loved and lost. For people who've experienced loss, decorations can help them feel closer to the departed. These decorations relate to happy childhood memories and the bittersweet feeling of Christmas joy. In other words, just go with it.

So to everyone who puts up decorations right after Halloween... that's still too soon... but this year a week before Thanksgiving... go for it!  It really does make you feel happier and I'm all for that!