Whether you are already thinking about shopping for presents and putting the decorations up, or are the complete opposite and leave everything until Christmas Eve, then you might want to listen up.
Research has suggested that people who put their Christmas decorations up early are actually much happier than the rest of us. Take that all of you Scrooges.
In a report in Science Direct, researchers explain that those who put their decorations up early are generally happier people, and are seen as more welcoming and personable by others.
The findings state:
"[People see those with] Christmas decorations as a cue that the residents were friendly and cohesive. Decoration interacted with sociability in a complex but interpretable way.
"In the absence of Christmas decorations, raters accurately distinguished between the homes of sociable and nonsociable residents; in open-ended comments, they attributed their impressions to the relatively more 'open' and 'lived in' look of the sociable residents' homes."
"When Christmas decorations were present, raters actually attributed greater sociability to the nonsociable residents, citing a more open appearance as the basis for their judgments.
"The results support the idea that residents can use their home's exterior to communicate attachment and possibly to integrate themselves into a neighborhood's social activities."
You seem friendlier and you are generally happier? I better start decking the halls immediately.
