MovieChat Forums > A Christmas Story (1983) Discussion > Was it Christmas Eve when they went to t...

Was it Christmas Eve when they went to the mall to visit Santa?

posted 5 years ago by csweetleaf2 (3530)
4 replies | jump to latest

Since the store was closing at 9pm I always thought it was a day or two before Christmas Eve because most malls & stores likely closed early on Christmas Eve.

[–] duval7 (143) 5 years ago

Yes i believe so. they also didn't put the tree up until the night before.

[–] strntz (10771) 5 years ago

.. they also didn't put the tree up until the night before.

But many people did in the olden days. My grandparents put theirs up on Christmas Eve.

My mom put ours up about halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I was a kid in the 60s, stores didn't decorate until after Thanksgiving. It really didn't start feeling like Christmas until about two weeks before.

These days, Christmas IS the day after Thanksgiving through New Years and stores start decorating well before Thanksgiving. I was with my wife at Hobby Lobby two weeks ago (last week of September) and they had all their trees out..

Christmas is now officially 1/4 of the calendar year.

[–] MinorityRules15 (958) 4 years ago

Maybe it was different back then, but usually in my area all stores and malls close at 6 pm on Christmas Eve.

[–] liscarkat (16434) 4 years ago

It was a large department store, not a mall. Up until the 1980s, Christmas season started after Thanksgiving, and didn't really get going until mid-December. Last year Home Depot, Lowe's, and Michael's had all their Christmas stuff on display by late August.