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POLL: Have you already put up your Christmas decorations?

Is the day after Halloween too soon?
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Christmas lights are going up at homes across Greater Victoria. (Black Press Media file photo)

It’s a question western civilization has pondered since the dawn of the electric light: when’s the right time to put up Christmas decorations around your home?

You will see some homes adorned with colourful lights and inflatable reindeer on the day after Halloween, while others choose a more stealthy approach to the holidays with the decorations not appearing until the week before Christmas.

Whenever you choose to string up those lights and drag that inflatable Grinch from his resting spot in the garage, chances are you’ll see more of them around the neighbourhood. A BC Hydro survey has found a greater number of B.C. homes will be lit up this holiday season.

In a typical year, around 15 per cent of British Columbians commit to at least 10 strings of lights and multiple plug-in and blow-up displays, but this year that number is expected to jump 50 per cent. And while the mega decorators may be a minority, they are a committed one. Every single survey respondent who said they’ve gone full out in the past said they plan to do so again.

This commitment doesn’t come without some cost. BC Hydro estimates the price of running one plug-in Santa, snowman or reindeer comes out to about $50 per Christmas. And for people using incandescent lights instead of LED ones, BC Hydro says they’re spending around $5 per string more than they need to.

Have you already put up your Christmas decorations? Take our poll and let us know.

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