Putting Up Holiday Decorations Early Makes You More Neighborly

 


We have been decorating early for Christmas at our house for 30 years. I get our outdoor lights ready to be turned on the day after Thanksgiving.

Next year, I need to start even earlier.

A study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology (1989) shows people who have their houses lit up for Christmas appear friendlier to their neighbors.

We already know decorating for Christmas early makes you happier. But this research suggests it can also make your neighbors happier too.

Participants in the study were shown a variety of homes from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Regardless of the home size or neighborhood, the homes decorated for Christmas were deemed "friendly and cohesive” and “open and social.”

When the houses in the pictures weren't decorated, the raters were good at guessing is the family who lived inside was sociable. 

When they saw homes decorated for the holidays, something happened. The lights and wreaths inspired participants to give the less-friendly households a higher sociability ranking.

The authors of the study say Christmas decorations have social symbolism. When a home puts an inflatable snowman outside simultaneously with their neighbors, they are participating in a larger community event. If you still need to introduce yourself to your neighbors in person, decorating for the holidays is an easy way to appear more sociable.

Psychoanalyst Steve McKeown explained why Christmas decorations make us happy and why a home decked out in Christmas lights makes people appear friendly to strangers.

"In a world full of anxiety, people like to associate with things that make them happy. Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood," McKeown said. "Decorations are a pathway to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement!"

McKeown said nostalgia is often the driving force behind decorating early for the holidays. That is important in an era of loneliness and social disconnection.

“Decorating for the holidays—even when you don’t feel like it—might be good for your psychological well-being. Stringing some lights and trimming a tree could make you happier. and improve your social life,” said McKeown. “The action creates a neurological link to nostalgic and warm feelings around childhood experiences.”

Nostalgia is not my first thought in November when I get out the lights, which were neatly put away in January but are somehow transformed into a tangled ball in the storage tub.

My warm childhood memories of putting up lights consist of watching my dad do it. There was one long strand on the house's gutter and bulbs the size of baseballs were on the shrubs.

But putting up lights now does make me happy at the exact point I am finished.

So put up those lights. Smile while you are doing it. Then, invite a neighbor over for hot chocolate. God bless us, everyone!

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Does this article make you interested in taking the Engaged Neighbor pledge? Five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge online at http://engagedneighbor.com.

Contact the blog author, David L. Burton at dburton541@yahoo.com.

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