Community Chat

[CatsyCline]

My family always had a real tree. we would pick out at the local tree lot. Set up  the 2nd advent (2nd Sunday in Dec)   

Dad was always hunting for a certain variety of Tree.  A Balsam? Scotch Pine?  can't recall...anyway...we set up and  decorated right away.  such pretty antique and mid-century ornaments.  we used so much of that old style metal tinsel!  

i guess we took the tree down on NY Day.

i remember one year i was 12 i guess i went off on a crying jag about the poor trees that were leftover at the tree lots and how horrible that they were cut down for nothing.

i put up a pre-lit tree in mid-Dec. we no longer have a real tree, i miss it. just not the same. 

[Carmie]

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@mormel20 wrote:

This is interesting.  I have always heard it was bad luck to keep the Christmas Tree up past New Year's Day.  Has anyone else ever heard the bad luck thing? 

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Nope.  Many orthodox Christian's celebrate Christmas on January 7.  They follow the original Julian calendar and not the Georgian calandar which was introduced by the Catholic Church.

My husband is orthodox as are many people who live in my area.  Seeing Christmas trees and lights up until the middle of January is common.

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[smb3]

Growing up we always got the tree on Christmas Eve and Santa decorated it.  We woke up to the tree decorated and all the presents.  It was exciting to see on Christmas morning.  I don't remember hearing why, it is just what we did every year.  One year there was a big snowstorm and my brothers went out on foot to find a tree.  None of us have kept that tradition though.  It was fun at the time and nice memories of wonderful Christmases.

[BlueFinch]

My family usually put a fresh tree up a couple of weeks before Christmas. I know it wasn't up very long. I think artificial trees allowed people to enjoy their trees longer, sometimes well into January.

In fact, I have a friend who enjoyed her first artificial tree so much that she left it up until March. She took a lot of flak over that decision. 

Interestingly, our fresh tree lots are still active with those purchasing. Last out shopping, two days ago, I saw vehicles with trees on car rooftops.

Maybe people think they'll remain fresher, if they plan to leave it up until mid January, if they wait to purchase, not realizing they're likely harvested at the same time as the first arrivals. 

[cheriere]

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@mormel20 wrote:

This is interesting.  I have always heard it was bad luck to keep the Christmas Tree up past New Year's Day.  Has anyone else ever heard the bad luck thing? 

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lol, I always heard it was bad luck to take it down before New Year's Day.  We always left ours up a couple weeks after since I don't put it up until a week or two before Christmas.  I guess depends different traditions have different luck stories lol.

[Trinity11]

It was a tradition in our family to choose the tree late afternoon Christmas Eve. My dad negotiated a lower price that way.😄 We decorated it that night.

[Sooner]

I would say when people didn't have means to keep a live tree alive, and had few ornaments, tradition to decorate on Christmas Eve made some sense.

I remember when I was growing up live trees were gotten about 2 weeks before Christmas and decorated.  Then better tree maintenance and even artifical pushed it back to day after Thanksgiving.

In the 1990's when working, if we didn't have inside and outside done by 2 weeks before Thanksgiving there was really no point or no hope!  Now that seems to be pretty standard where we live!

More time to enjoy so why not?

[1tuffcookie]

Now that my kids are grown, my husband and I wait until the 23rd or 24th.  We're actually putting our tree up today, but the wreaths went up on the outside of the house a few weeks ago.  Since we're at work during the day, there's no way we're leaving kitty alone in the house with the tree.  😹

[faeriemoon]

Back in the day many people decorated their trees on Christmas Eve, and it stayed up at least through the twelve days of Christmas.

There has been a big shift in what we call "the Christmas Season."

When I was a kid our tree went up about a week before Christmas and stayed up through Little Christmas on the 6th. (Sometimes a bit longer if it was still holding onto its needles.)

[sunshine45]

that has  never been a tradition in our home growing up nor now.

i would go crazy if i had to put it up on christmas eve.

i enjoy having it up for a while, so it goes up the weekend of thanksgiving.

if it were solely up to me, i would put it up before that.

it wont come down until after the 2nd week of january.