Christmas is in the air. Can you feel it?
During this season, one of the activities that Christmas revelers find so much joy in is Christmas decorating. Some want to start decorating their homes and offices just in time for Christmas, while others want to do it earlier.
Believe it or not, science says those who want to do it earlier are happier.
Science confirms
A post recently was shared by Your Christmas Countdown’s Facebook page saying that people who decorate earlier for Christmas are happier. Science confirms this.
Steve McKeown, a psychoanalyst, spoke to British online media company UNILAD, and said that in a world filled with stress and anxiety, people like to associate with things that make them happy, and “Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of childhood.”
“Decorations are simply an anchor or pathway to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement,” McKeown added. “So putting up those Christmas decorations early [extends] the excitement!”
Meanwhile, another expert, Deborah Serani, a psychologist, told Today that decorating for Christmas earlier creates “that neurological shift that can produce happiness.”
“It does create that neurological shift that can produce happiness. I think anything that takes us out of our normal habituation, the normal day in, day out … signals our senses, and then our senses measure if it’s pleasing or not. Christmas decorating will spike dopamine, a feel-good hormone,” Serani stated.
Nostalgia
For sure. Christmas is a happy time of the year, so decorating for this occasion early on puts people in a good mood. After all, who doesn’t love to see their house transform to its regular, everyday look to something bright, merry, shining, twinkling, and fun?
For psychotherapist Ann Morin, it is all about nostalgia.
“The holiday season stirs up a sense of nostalgia,” Morin told the media. “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.”
