Christmas Eve, decorate tree? - Page 5

Happy2BHere · ‎10-22-2019

I'm an "early birdie" and get ours up as soon as I can.

But my BFF is Czech (from Prague) and their family always waits until Christmas Eve to put their tree up. After decorating the tree she opens the containers of all the wonderful Christmas cookies she has been baking. She won't allow her DH and DS to have any until then (though I think they might sneak some!) - and they eat until they are in a cookie coma LOL.

I know she has mentioned a Czech meal of Christmas carp (fish) but I have never seen them eat that. AFAIK Christmas Day they have Pork Schnitzel and potato salad. Dinner for us is a Honeybaked ham and all the sides I make.

gidgetgh · ‎03-09-2010

Back in the day, Christmas wasn't a seemingly 6 month holiday like it is now.

Why is it, when I have a 50/50 guess at something, I'm always 100% wrong?

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

My brother's wife used to wait until Chirstmas Eve when the kids were little wanting them to think Santa did that too.

Anyone with little kids has enough to do on Chirstmas Eve without worrying if the tree gets decorated. I guess if they don't to go to bed it's okay.

RedTop · ‎09-01-2010

Growing up we had live trees; our house was heated by wood and coal, with an inside temperature over 80! It was not safe to have a live tree covered with C7 bulbs on display for weeks.

Based on the way Christmas falls this year, my dad would've cut our tree last Sunday, the 17th. It would've sat on our front porch in a 5 gallon bucket of water until Thursday. While we were at school on Thursday, Mom would've brought the tree inside and decorated it, and that glowing tree would've been the first thing my brothers and I would see as the school bus topped the hill before our stop. We would enjoy the tree thru Christmas Day, but it came down before noon on the 26th and was carried to our brushpile to burn. Everyone we knew did the same.

The trend for extending the holiday season to length it is now is not what I grew up with, and not the way I think.

Bri369 · ‎11-03-2018

I'm grateful to have an artificial tree that I can enjoy for a few weeks. I can't even imagine putting it up on Christmas Eve. LOL

Still Raining · ‎03-30-2014

I have never known anyone who did Christmas Eve. Can't even imagine the stress of doing it then. We usually have a few over for a visit, but no big todo until the day.

bikerbabe · ‎03-09-2010

When my mom was little, Santa brought the tree on Christmas Eve.

happilyretiredgirl · ‎06-17-2020

@mormel20 I grew up hearing the bad luck thing about leaving the tree up after New Year's, I always heard it was bad luck to have two Christmas trees up and decorated in within the same year, so that is why the tree was down prior to New Year's Day. I still do it...tree goes up after Thanksgiving and down around the 28th. I like to have all Christmas decorations down and packed away before New Year's Eve. I decorate with snowmen, snowflakes and winter cardinals after Christmas inside and out so it still looks festive during the winter months.

AuntG · ‎03-09-2010

@bikerbabe wrote:
When my mom was little, Santa brought the tree on Christmas Eve.

We always put up a real tree around Dec 10th or 11th - whenever my parents could fit it in.

However, my husband is the middle of eleven children and his parents always had Santa deliver the tree on Christmas Eve. Being there is a twenty two year age gap between youngest and oldest, the older (unbelievers) got to decorate it on Christmas Eve. He remembers being awed by all Santa did (until he became an unbeliever). Back then, kids believed until they were ten years old, so it was a longstanding tradition for his family. Also, there wasn't a lot of money for a big family so the decorated tree became the gift. He usually got one clothing item and one toy for Christmas.

chlema · ‎05-22-2010

When I was growing up there were no such thing as an artificial tree, everyone had a "real' tree. If we were to put it up early it would be dead by Christmas, with needles everywhere and a fire hazard to boot. The first artificial tree that I can recall was silver and I thought it was really ugly.

This reminds me of a live tree we once had, it was just beautiful, tall, round and fresh. So fresh that when we turned on the lights - bigger bulbs were used back then - the tree smelled of urine. We decided that a moose peed on it before it was cut down. We never turned on the lights that year.