People are putting up their Christmas decorations early and experts say it could boost wellbeing

Some people have already begun putting up their Christmas decorations in a bid to inject some festive cheer into a year they’d really rather forget.

While packing away the Halloween paraphernalia can be a marker for Christmas-lovers to start choosing their beauty advent calendar and stockpiling the snow globe gin, only die-hard devotees usually see it as an opportunity to put up the tree and tinsel.

But this year, prepping for the holiday season can’t come soon enough for some festive-loving folk as a quick scroll of social media reveals.

Loose Women presenter Stacey Solomon has already replaced her autumn decorations with a collection of jolly bearded gnomes and given her bedroom a festive makeover.

Read more: 200,000 people to join in 'Clap for Carers'-style bell ringing event on Christmas Eve

While Tan France has unashamedly put his Christmas tree up as part of a 10 year Halloween tradition. “Haters back off!” the Queer Eye star wrote in the caption to an image shared on Instagram of his floor to ceiling fake festive fir.

It’s not just the celebs getting in on the early festive action, as Twitter is also awash with people sharing photos of their already decorated trees.

Read more: Christmas tree and card sales set to soar as Britons remain home this festive season

These early Christmas adopters are not a rarity it seems, as Tesco’s Christmas Report has revealed that 2.4 million people plan to get their Christmas-on ASAP this year by having their tree and decorations up in November.

Meanwhile figures from online shop Studio Retail reveal a 38% year-on year rise in unique purchases showing that consumers are buying Christmas decor earlier than the year before.

Plus, we at Yahoo have spotted that people are already leaving reviews for artificial Christmas trees bought at M&S this year.

Can decorating early for Christmas make you happier?

Before the “it’s too early” brigade start sounding off about the festive fast-forward, its worth noting that digging out the decs sooner rather than later can actually give your mental health a boost, according to Dr Elena Touroni, consultant psychologist and co-founder of The Chelsea Psychology Clinic.

“This year’s been hard on all of us, and news of another lockdown, with further disappointments and cancelled plans, is likely to have brought up all kinds of difficult thoughts and feelings,” she explains.

“Planning enjoyable events and activities is a psychological strategy that can help build our capacity to cope with daily life.”

Watch: Mariah Carey has announced ‘it’s time’ for Christmas.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Christmas 2020, Dr Touroni says that knowing that there’s something to look forward to gives us a psychological reward, which can make it easier to push through difficult times.

“Christmas activities like decorating the house or the tree are happy (and often shared) experiences that provide a temporary break from the reality of what’s happening in the world right now,” she explains.

“So in this sense, it makes sense that people might be doing these things a little earlier this year.”

There is also something mood-boosting about the glitzy decorations themselves, according to mindset coach Ruth Kudzi.

“Studies have shown that Christmas decorations can create a neurological shift and spike in dopamine, the feel-good hormone,” she explains.

“Whilst people are stuck at home and the clocks have gone back (which means it is dark by 5pm), this is a way to bring some light, smiles, joy and hope.”

Read more: Why you should start your Christmas shopping early this year, according to retail experts

Getting prepped for the festive season early also enables us to regain a sense of agency in a year that has felt very unruly.

“At the moment, there isn't much we can control - we are stuck at home, we don’t have many answers about vaccines and we don't yet know what this Christmas season will look like, but anticipate it will be very very different,” Kudzi says.

“Many adore Christmas - and are fearful and sad thinking about it not being the magical time of year that it has been - so, putting the decs up early, is a way of taking some control back.

“The lights are not just pretty and bring some sparkle to a difficult time, they can also act as a daily reminder for us to choose joy and find some positivity amongst this pandemic.

“It can also remind us that being at home isn’t all that bad and we can make the best of a bad situation by decorating our safe space.”

Read more: This is when to buy a turkey so you don’t miss out this Christmas

Getting our glitter on sooner than usual could also be a way of waving goodbye to a year we’d rather forget. As Kudzi says:

“This year, for many, has been tough and has dragged along, some are maybe wanting to see the year out quicker - hence popping the tree up and decorations up early so we can long for a more hopeful and better 2021."

Read more: 60% of Brits will complete their Christmas shopping in November

So basically science says it is totally fine for you to put your Christmas tree up early this year, in fact your mood may benefit from it.

And who are we to argue with science?

Watch: London’s Christmas lights celebrate coronavirus heroes.