How many times have you been accused of rushing the holiday season just because you want to put up Christmas decorations the day after Halloween?
The scenario happens every year as stores put out snowmen next to jack-o'-lanterns and the Hallmark Channel begins airing Christmas specials a week before Halloween.
Next time it happens to you, tell the accuser that experts say you’re doing a good thing.
"In a world full of stress and anxiety," psychoanalyst Steve McKeown told UNILAD, "people like to associate to things that make them happy, and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood."
Psychotherapist Amy Morin agreed.
“The holiday season stirs up a sense of nostalgia. 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 with their childhoods,” she told UNILAD.
"Christmas decorating will spike dopamine, a feel-good hormone," psychologist Deborah Serani told Today.
Decorating the outside of you house can have another benefit. A study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology suggests a decorated house makes others think you are friendly.
Study participants rated residents based only on photographs of their home and front yard. “As expected, a main effect for the decorated factor indicated that raters used Christmas decorations as a cue that the residents were friendly and cohesive,” the researchers wrote.
So go right ahead and embrace your inner Buddy the Elf, even if everyone around you is a Grinch.
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