{"id":38985,"date":"2018-11-16T13:42:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T13:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/study-links-happiness-to-early-holiday-decorating\/"},"modified":"2018-11-16T13:42:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T13:42:00","slug":"study-links-happiness-to-early-holiday-decorating","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/study-links-happiness-to-early-holiday-decorating\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Links Happiness to Early Holiday Decorating"},"content":{"rendered":"

They may go overboard with their tidings of comfort and joy, but as it turns out, the early Christmas decorators among us may actually be doing themselves—and the rest of us—good.<\/p>\n\n

Scientists at Temple University and the University of Utah published a study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology<\/em>, and among its findings were the indication that people whose homes are decorated communicate a sense of friendliness and cohesiveness with neighbors.<\/p>\n\n

Simply put, those people tend to happier. Psychoanalyst Steve McKeown elaborates:<\/p>\n\n

“There could be a number of symptomatic reasons why someone would want to obsessively put up decorations early, most commonly for nostalgic reasons either to relive the magic or to compensate for past neglect. In a world full of stress and anxiety people like to associate things that make them happy, and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood.”<\/p>\n\n

McKeon continues, “Decorations are simply an anchor or pathway to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement. So putting up those Christmas decorations early extend the excitement!”<\/p>\n\n

According to the authors of the study, those warm feelings of joy and excitement are transmitted not only within the home, but from neighbor to neighbor when the decorations are visible from outside the home.<\/p>\n\n

The study did not elaborate, however, on how many holiday jingles it takes to wear down your resistance to impulse-buying chocolate while in line at the drugstore.<\/p>\n\n

Potential preaching angles:<\/h2>\n\n

Like Mary when she heard the good news, we are blessed when we express our joy at God’s movement among us. Leaning into the spirit of the season helps make it possible to endure the difficult moments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/h2>","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3387,3454,3497,3551,3600,3856,4021,4117,4153,4160,4303,4453,4535,4546,4791,4964],"tax_ctp_topics":[387,395],"class_list":["post-38985","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-advent","tax_ctp_tags-attitude","tax_ctp_tags-birth-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-celebration","tax_ctp_tags-christmas","tax_ctp_tags-emotions","tax_ctp_tags-friendship","tax_ctp_tags-happiness","tax_ctp_tags-holidays","tax_ctp_tags-home","tax_ctp_tags-joy","tax_ctp_tags-memory","tax_ctp_tags-neighbor","tax_ctp_tags-news-that-illustrates","tax_ctp_tags-rejoicing","tax_ctp_tags-sharing"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nStudy Links Happiness to Early Holiday Decorating - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/study-links-happiness-to-early-holiday-decorating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Study Links Happiness to Early Holiday Decorating - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They may go overboard with their tidings of comfort and joy, but as it turns out, the early Christmas decorators among us may actually be doing themselves—and the rest of us—good. 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