How to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve's in an Owner's Community without conflicts?

1. To be on everyone's side: the vaccine against conflicts.

At Christmas time, popular morality underlines generosity, which in social interaction comes into indulgence. 

This, however, does not imply that all people feel during Christmas. For example, it is possible to have lost a loved one and experience sadness: in this situation, psychologists recommend devoting specific moments of the Christmas holidays to remembrance.

All of us, on some occasion, have not taken into account one fact: other people's feelings do not have to agree with our own. Forgetting this sentence causes that conflicts: arise and grow.

2. Voting is better than imposing

At Finques Feliu we want to reconcile the rights of everyone in the  Owners' Community (hereinafter OC). To achieve this we need to answer the following question clearly: 

Exists, inside the OCs, some limitation, when we are celebrating, in the common spaces of the community, Christmas or New year's Eve?

We have limited the problem to the common areas of the CP: the porch, the walkways, the gardens or the balconies.

It's not that there can't be conflicts inside the houses, in fact the excessive noise doesn't distinguish between the different spaces, but because of the joy that pervades Christmas, they can happen more than usual in the spaces shared by the whole neighborhood.

The conflict most related to these dates is the unilateral decision to install Christmas decorations.

Is it advisable to unilaterally install wreaths or the Christmas tree in the common areas of the CP? 

No. Unilateral decisions derive in "faits accomplis" that are interpreted as "aggressions". For this reason, it is better to dialogue and obtain our neighbors consent -whether they are owners' or not-. To ask for an  Owners' Meeting is possible, but, undoubtedly, excessive. 

It is always necessary to review the Statutes and the Internal Rules of the OC to make sure that in these documents there is no explicit prohibition referring to Christmas. 

It is worth to say that good relations between owners' make the things easier.

3. Common sense: the best traveling companion

Common sense dictates that you should never opt for disproportionate decoration or place it in front of the building's evacuation doors.   

When talking about common sense, two additional questions arise.

First of all, the COVID-19 elephant is still in the room: we must have respect for the illness, above all, be careful to keep our distance and mask. Nevertheless, the left hand is key: everyone is emotionally very tired and it is necessary to take care of the coexistence. 

Secondly, we emphasize safety at CPs. This is always very important, but even more so during the holidays. Certainly, living in a united PC makes it much easier to identify intruders.

4. Epilogue: recycle or replant the Christmas tree after the holidays

We sign this article in the middle of the Christmas holidays, once the holidays are over, we recommend to replant the Christmas tree in our garden or to recycle it.

Replanting it in the garden is difficult, but exciting because it is to bring it back to life.  Recycling the tree is more accessible and, with it, you can make compost or use the gulls to fertilize: this vix.com link explains these options and others. In addition, Barcelona offers to collect the Christmas Tree. At the end of the previous link there is another one about how to collect all the Christmas decorations.   

We wish you an excellent entry to the year 2022.