What makes this time of year make it really feel like “Christmas” for you?
For me, it’s not truly Christmas until I’ve watched “White Christmas.”
…December 25.
literal much? 
So for you it doesn’t feel like anything up until then?
Not to bum out your thread, but I really don’t know anymore. It’s been three years since my parents have started divorce proceedings and since then, things haven’t been the same.
Christmas is just something to get through, not to enjoy.
Weird, I was thinking of starting a thread just like this. Same title, too.
So, for me, it’s not Christmas until…
…Bing sings White Christmas or Burl Ives sings Silver and Gold
…A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street (the original), or one of the Rankin-Bass animated specials plays on TV, whichever comes first.
…Santa Claus shows up at my local mall.
When all three of these are official, then it’s totally Christmas. 
I need to see snow before I feel like Christmas is coming, and until the tree is up it’s still not quite real.
I have a dorky tradition with my Dad where the first one to hear that “Feliz Navidad” song over the radio or in a store while shopping calls the other to say Christmas is here. So, it’s not here yet.
I have absolutely no idea why I feel this way, since I’m neither Jewish nor Christian, but for me it’s not Christmas until I hear Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song.”
It’s really not Christmas for me until I punch the first retail clerk.
Ah, such nostalgia.
My husband and I joke that it’s not really Christmas until we see Budweiser Clydesdales on television and have to sing along. Me on the ahhh, ahhh, ahhhs and him on one the bum, bum, bums.
Until I decorate the tree!
I love that!
Love that song - how many “new versions” has he done?
My mom used to work at a veterinary hospital that looked after the Clydesdales care. I remember going down and seeing them with my mom - so cool.
The first bite of pie on Thanksgiving signals the start of the season for me.
When come back, bring gifts.
it snows.
It never seemed like Christmas when I lived somewhere that there wasn’t snow on Christmas. Christmas = snow.
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is a big part of it for me.
And Die Hard.
Oh, and when my girlfriend gets all bright-eyed and giggly at the pretty lights and stuff. That really is turning into a big part of Christmas for me, even though this one coming up is only our second Christmas together.
It’s not Christmas until the tree is up. So right now, it’s Christmas at work, but not at home. And we won’t have time to put the tree up this weekend. Dangitall.
I hear Band-Aid - Do They Know It’s Christmas?
I have no idea how people felt all Christmassy before 1984.
Midnight Worship Christmas Eve --------- at 9:45PM
I never quite figured it out but I have always loved it and it really makes the season for me.
. . . until I’ve made the mint chip cookies and gotten out the stockings that my Mom knitted. The Colbert Christmas Special may be sneaking in there, too.
After my parents divorced, my ex and I used to spend Christmas eve with my dad & stepmum and go to the midnight service. I loved that.
It kind of feels like Christmas now now that it’s cold out, there’s a bit of snow on the ground, the trees are up, some presents are under, and we’ve recieved Christmas cards.
But to me, there’s only one thing that tells me it’s Christmas.
EGG NOG!!
Love the stuff (well, the storebought stuff anyways, haven’t tried the alcoholic version) and I’m really disappointed they only sell it one month of the year. Havent had my first carton yet.