Putting Up Your Christmas Lights Early Is Good For You

Driving through my Lincoln neighborhood, I've been seeing a few Christmas trees set up in windows fully decorated like it's Christmas Eve. While I find it a little too early, more important people - the Journal of Environmental Psychology - find that it is actually good for you to decorate early. It is in fact, the "most wonderful time of year" or so they say. Bah humbug!

When you’re putting up decorations, you’re thinking of happier times, times with family and friends and family traditions you engaged in. Thinking of those happy memories stirs up happy feelings. A dose of holiday nostalgia also encourages giving and do-gooding, which is a mood enhancer. Altruism increases in the month of December and as people start to give more and donate more, it makes them happy. It makes people feel good so they want to start celebrating as early as possible.' - Psychotherapist and author Amy Morin