It's not (insert winter holiday of your choice) until . . .
 

It's not Christmas until . . . I hear "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" and "(You gotta) Shop for Christmas Presents".

What signals the start of the season for you?

It's not Christmas until I hear Band Aid's Feed the World/Let Them Know Its Christmastime on the radio.

When I was younger, it wasn't Christmas until I saw Santa sledding down the hill in his Norelco razor.

It's not Christmas until I hear "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by John Lennon & Yoko Ono. My word, it will be 28 years since John was killed on Monday!

It's not Christmas until I've seen "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

It's not Christmas until I've heard "Christmas With a Capital 'C'"

and of course, it's not Christmas until I'm completely stressed out!

Realistically, it's not Christmas for me until sundown on December 24, or maybe when I hear the Service of Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge on the morning of December 24. ;)

But more in the spirit of the question, it's not Christmas until I hear "Merry Christmas from the Family" by Robert Earl Keen.

For me, it's not really Christmas until I've seen A Christmas Story...

It was on TNT last night, but live-in hates the movie. I'm going to have to wait to watch it until he's doing something else and won't mind me huddling up on the couch with some peppermint coffee and maybe some cookies.

Incidentally, it's one of the only movies growing up that my brother and I could watch again and again without getting bored and beating the living crap out of each other. Ahhhh, the holidays.

Sorry, but live-in just can't be a real guy if he hates that movie. :p

Oh believe me, I mocked him mercilessly.

Something about a mom/teacher/wicked witch/glenda singing "You'll shoot your eye out" creeps him out, I guess.

My mom and I love that movie! For Christmas last year we got her tickets to go see it in Cleveland, it was awesome! All of the actors were great! I think we're going to go again this year... perhaps I'll drag the bf along lol. They also have the house as a museum so I'm hoping to get to that too :)

That being said... it's not christmas until I hear 12 pains of christmas lol. It cracks me up!

It's not Christmas until I hear that Cheech & Chong Christmas story on the radio.

It isn't Christmas until Santa arrives at Macy's during the parade.

It isn't Christmas until Peter Comes Home (Thanks for the link alphagamzetagam).

It isn't Christmas season until my kids get their chocolate advent calendars from my Mom. I don't care if decorations are up on October, it isn't Christmas until I can hold that itty piece of chocolate over their heads to make sure dinner is eaten without complaints!

It's not Christmas until . . .
 

"The Year Without A Santa Claus" - but only so I can sing Snow/Heat Miser!

It's not Christmas till my school finally cuts the cord and lets me go home!!!

It's not officially Christmas until I get up in the middle of the night and gorge on the chocolate chip cookies my nephew left for Santa so that he can wake up in the morning and see they've been eaten. :D

(Honestly, the kid doesn't give a flip about Santa, I just like eating the cookies :o).

It's not Christmas until hubby and I have our "wrap-a-thon." This year we managed to be DONE Christmas shopping in mid-October, but still haven't wrapped ANYTHING. To be fair, we use brown craft paper, and hand make amazing bows and hand paint every package-- and it takes forever. But we'll put in Christmas movies and wrap until we are both very cranky. *LOL* That's the start of the season at our house.

I have a snow man that dances and sings the Snow miser song while swinging a lighted snow flake in a big circle... I'm a total sucker for cheesy Christmas decorations :)

I have a "Christmas Pickle".

My favorite part of "A Christmas Story"...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46WcFObgYhI (I hope I did this right!)

Yes you did and it's one of mine, too! "'Tis the season to be jorry..." Ahhh - the insensitivity of the 80s...

For me...
 

it isn't Christmas until I hear "Silent Night" by The Temptations.

It's not Christmas until Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker commercials start airing, which reminds me I have to get my tickets. Sometimes they show the PNB motion picture on TV, but not so much anymore. And I really love the PNB version (with Maurice Sendak designed costumes and sets), so I go pretty much every year. Here's a clip from two of my favorite dances to get you in the spirit:

Flowers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vudCMCCuEIY
Peacock/Arabian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpxvJ...eature=related
Divertissement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z4so...eature=related

I put up the angel I painted that I made in like 2nd grade. Is it bad that my fav ornament has my picture on it? :p

That song was requested twice in a row on the radio this morning!

It's not Christmas until I see the Budweiser Clydesdales prancing (yea they're big, lol) through the snow.

It used to also be the Norelco Santa sledding down the snow but they don't show that anymore.:(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVk6JKDa3zI

I inherited a set of tea cups & tea pot ornaments that are 120 years old. I can't believe I haven't broken one yet!

And now, I've probably jinxed myself!

I was just thinking the same thing - you be careful, honeychile!

I have this feeling that I won't even touch the box they're in for this Christmas!

I just knocked on wood for you.

Mine isn't handed down (it's not a family tradition), but I had a friend who gave it to me as part of an inside joke. It still makes me giggle every time I put it up!

It is not Christmas...
 

Until the nose on the stag on top of the white steer building is lit

I think I may watch that one this year.

I acquired a new cheesy decoration yesterday.. a 3 pc bathroom set. Toilet seat cover is Santa's head, with hat, beard, etc. His body is the rug for the floor around the commode. There is also a snowman tissue box cover. I never had my bathroom decorated before. The kids are going to crack up.

I am proud to say that I've never seen the Jim Carrey movie.

Until I've seen The Grinch and Charlie Brown specials at least twice AND it snows. Christmas without snow is just WRONG.

It's not the interfaith unity celebration until someone gets a tipsy and knocks the menorah onto the christmas/solstice tree.

That's an hour and a half of my life I will never get back.

I was babysitting for our downstairs neighbor the other night (his babysitter canceled, so his 9 y/o son came up to hang out with us for the evening since we have an extra bedroom and could tuck him in), and I was SEARCHING for the kids books I had JUST PACKED from my dad's house. I couldn't find the bins anywhere! Turns out, I forgot that I packed them, then left them at my dad's house because they didn't fit in my car. He's going to bring them out later this month when he comes out for Christmas.

As a stroke of luck, however, I had packed the Grinch in with the Christmas stuff. I found it, pulled it out, and tucked him in with it. He reads it, finishes it, asks for a glass of water, then says "I didn't know they made a book out of the Grinch movies."

Uhhhh... WHAT?! I mean I know he's only 9 but how could this poor child have gone through life ONLY ever watching the movies?? My brother and I had just about every Dr. Seuss book growing up, and my parents could RECITE some of them (the Cat in the Hat specifically) from beginning to end!

the start of the season for me is nov. 1st. Holiday decor comes out in the stores in full force and Christmas music is played on the radio. In fact one of our local radio stations here only plays Christmas music from nov. 1st through Christmas. It's known as "Mix-mas." It's the most wonderful time of the year :)

That would drive me absolutely insane. My dad's house only gets one radio station that's not country, and they do this.

I was more than ready to leave when Thanksgiving was over.

Well that would drive me nuts too if that was the ONLY radio station here. While I love Christmas music, I do like a mix of other too and dont like the idea of listening to only that 24/7.

Growing up we listened to the Jim Reeves Xmas album ALL DAY LONG on Christmas Day. "Mary's Boy Child" was my mother's favorite. I cannot complain this year - after years of bemoaning the loss of the album, my mother finally has a cd of it - courtesy of me. She missed it so much . . . I guess listening to it over and over again is a small price to pay for her happiness!