Do people get on your case about setting up your Christmas tree and twinkling lights in November?
As it turns out, they're just naturally grumpy because they're not decorating, and it's actual science.
Psychologist Steve McKeown explains that putting your Christmas decorations up earlier in the year legitimately makes you happier, so take that Ebenezer Scrooge.
"In a world full of stress and anxiety people like to associate to things that make them happy and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood," McKeown explains. He goes on to say that extending the season of excitement surrounding the holidays just naturally ups one's mood.
McKeown explains that people who put up decorations usually do so for the nostalgia, "either to relive the magic or to compensate for past neglect."
Either way, it improves one's perception of Christmas time, which in turn improves mood.
McKeown's study states that a decorated house not only brings pre-formed social groups together, but can help "integrate lonely people into a neighborhood's social activities."
Don't let anybody tell you that you can't start getting Christmasy in November. Be the happiest you that you can be.
Unless you're decorating, like, _now. As Taylor Swift would say, "you need to calm down."
h/t: Parents.com
