Halloween is over, but when should you start celebrating Christmas? | CBC News

The Halloween decorations will soon be coming down. But when should the Christmas lights go up?

If you hit the streets in Windsor, the right time to start celebrating the holiday season depends on who you ask.

“I would say after November 11th,” said Mandy St-Jacques, who spoke to CBC News in the city’s downtown. “I just [want to put] respect towards all the people that fought for our country.”

“If you can’t celebrate November 11th, I just find it’s not right.”

Jacqueline LeClair, on the other hand, will start celebrating the season today. However, she acknowledges that it’s appropriate to take a break on Nov. 11.

“As long as you take Remembrance Day and keep it special, there’s nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas,” she said.

Regardless of when you think it’s appropriate to start celebrating the holiday season, festive events are about to start.

L’Union Culturelle des Franco-Ontariennes (UCFO) is hosting a craft show at the Constable John Atkinson Memorial Community Centre on Saturday. More than 50 vendors will be exhibiting their wares for customers hoping to get their Christmas shopping done as early as possible.

“You have vendors, you meet people and then the people that come in to buy different stuff, a lot of them are homemade,” said Noella Frappier, president of UCFO. “They want a little something different to give at Christmas or even a birthday or something.”

Frappier has been with UCFO for about 10 years and says with exceptions made during the COVID-19 pandemic, the show has been going ahead for years before then. She said they have sometimes tried to hold the show even earlier than the first week of November.

“We try to [hold it] sometime at the end of October,” Frappier said. “Our events are better at the beginning of November. November is a nice month and December, a lot of people get together. There’s a lot of groups that go out for supper, so it’s busy in December.”

An event even earlier that will take place once a week, beginning this Thursday.

WindsorEats will be hosting a night market every Thursday until Dec. 21.

“We have a large outdoor patio and we wanted to utilize it to create an outdoor night market that showcases local vendors, have some carolers and singers and have something festive that’s not just family-friendly, but also understanding that adults can be responsible and have an adult beverage,” said Adriano Ciotoli, co-owner of WindsorEats.

Ciotoli himself, however, is someone who tends to procrastinate celebrating the season.

“Typically, I’d be starting the day before,” he said, laughing. “Christmas Eve? Yeah, let’s start getting the gifts ready and everything decorated.”

Despite his typically late starts, Ciotoli understands that businesses have to operate differently.

“We’re making sure we have a good head start,” he said. “A lot of corporations, a lot of businesses, organizations are already preparing their holiday parties. Some, surprisingly, are coming up within the next week or two.”

“We have some [parties] booked here.”

Although the weekly market will begin before Remembrance Day, Ciotoli agrees with St-Jacques’ views of observing the day, though.

“Part of being thankful for everything that our veterans did allows people the choice to be able to [choose],” he said. “If they want to celebrate early, they can celebrate early and if not, they can wait until Remembrance Day before being able to enjoy everything.”

Ciotoli says WindsorEats won’t be doing anything on Remembrance Day out of respect.