How Soon is Too Soon to Deck the Halls or Visit with Santa?

Ahh. The Holiday Decoration debate. How soon is too soon to start decking the halls? When is it "okay" to let your kids see Santa when he arrives at the mall practically on Halloween? 

Everyone has an opinion on when it's "okay" for stores to decorate and when it's just far too soon.

But I gotta tell you. This year, we've gone all out as far as rushing the Holiday spirit, decorations, and even went so far as to welcome Santa at the Mall with a special parade on November 12th, nearly 2 weeks before Thanksgiving!  What a day - the mall gave out free Santa Hats, hot chocolate galore, the Mummers were there playing music, and Mrs. Claus, Rudolph and even Frosty were in attendance to welcome good old St. Nick. 

It's crazy I know. But we had snow before Halloween, so I figured why not Santa before Thanksgiving? My cuties are 3 and 6 right now and these years are just rushing by so fast. I want to savor every moment of their belief in Santa and their joy of EVERYTHING Christmas. 

I did set some limits by not letting them sit on Santa's lap when they were begging for a visit to share their Christmas Wish List. But otherwise, I was in full support of us living it up at the holiday parade. And I even started decorating my house this year BEFORE Thanksgiving. Normally I wait until Black Friday but this year we're traveling for the holiday and if I don't do it now, I don't know WHEN I'll have time to do it. And I want us to enjoy every second of this special season. 

So I've embraced it. Big time. Yes, decorations in stores before Halloween bother me, but otherwise, I'm fine celebrating. Time flies, the season goes by quickly, and I want to enjoy it and make it last a little longer so I can squeeze more holiday fun into my chaotic and busy life. 

This year I've been hearing lots of backlash against decorating too early especially in light of the Nordstrom notice in their stores that they will NOT be decorating for Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving. 

A beautiful concept. Especially since I think those decorations before Halloween are WAY to early even for me. 

Everyone online on Facebook and Twitter is sharing photos of Nordstrom's sign declaring that Nordstrom will NOT decorate until after Thanksgiving. 

What do you think?