Psychology Study Finds People Who Put Up Christmas Decorations Early Tend To Be Happier
July 17, 2019
If you celebrate Christmas, you’re either one of those people who absolutely adores the holiday, or one of those people who feels more neutral towards it. If you fall under the first category, you probably start stringing up your Christmas decorations on November 1st, right after Halloween. And as it turns out, people who put up their Christmas decorations early tend to be happier and healthier.
According to the Journal of Environmental Psychology, people use Christmas decorations to communicate friendliness and cohesiveness with their neighbors. Psychoanalyst Steve McKeown explains, “In a world full of stress and anxiety, people like to associate to things that make them happy, and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood. Decorations are simply an anchor or pathway to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement. So putting up those Christmas decorations early extends the excitement.”
Amy Morin, psychotherapist and best-selling author, echoes this sentiment. “The holiday season stirs up a sense of nostalgia,” she explains. “Nostalgia helps link people to their personal past and it helps people understand their identity. For many, putting up Christmas decorations early is a way for them to reconnect to their childhoods.”
And that’s not all. “For people who have lost a loved one, the holidays may serve as a reminder of happy times they had with that person in the past,” Morin continues. “Decorating early may help them feel more connected with that individual.”
So the next time one of your neighbors whips out the Christmas decorations on the first of November, have some patience with them. For whatever reason, putting up their holiday decorations early obviously makes them feel happy, so all the power to them if they want to experience those positive feelings for longer!