Does anyone here wait until Christmas Eve to put their tree up?

[manning]

When I was growing up we always got our tree on Christmas Eve and Santa did all the decorating.
Once I was old enough my mom told me that having 6 kids money was tight and the trees were marked down to $1 on Christmas Eve instead of the $10 they normally cost. We went to bed and poor dad had to put on the lights and decorate while mom wrapped all the gifts.
We also only got 2 toys each, not like it is today. I can't imagine what kids would say now to only 2 gifts each. And relatives gave clothes, because Santa brought the toys and he decided we should get 2 each and that was enough.
I never felt shorted though, we played outside all summer and winter with all the nieghborhood kids. We went outside after breakfast and came home in time for dinner. Never had play dates! Our toys were a waste, it was more fun to play 4 square in the middle of the road (my dad painted a 4 squre in the road) or hide and seek.

Ah, the good old days. How do we get them back??

I too was poor and toys were not the important thing. The family gathering was.

We go over to our friends house now on christmas eve. No presents are exchanged, but it is a pleasant evening.

 

[akhenaten]

No no no! I love being able to look at the tree for a while before Christmas. What a waste to only have it up for a couple of days.

But it is not only up for a couple of days!!
It stays up until Little christmas

the christmas season begins on christmas eve and ends on Little Christmas really! The 12 days of christmas!!

We have put our tree up on Christmas Eve... sometimes we do it a couple of days befor

(we still have a real tree! the only way it would come down early is if it got too dry )

 

[Ratpack]

I couldn't imagine decorating for only a couple of days or a week. Down here, people are decorating right around Thanksgiving! I love having my decorations up and enjoying them the whole month of December. I usually leave them up until New Years, then I am done.

It's like in Disney....celebrating the season as long as you can!

 

[klacey1]

I couldn't imagine decorating for only a couple of days or a week. Down here, people are decorating right around Thanksgiving! I love having my decorations up and enjoying them the whole month of December. I usually leave them up until New Years, then I am done.

It's like in Disney....celebrating the season as long as you can!

I agree! We love to celebrate the Christmas season as long as possible. We waited until December 10th this year, and I thought that was late! Maybe our tree (live) is a bit dry by Christmas, but we keep it well-watered. I love looking at it all lit up and decorated with the wood-burning stove rolling, snow or winds outside...Love it! I love to stretch out the magic for as long as possible!

 

[Lachesis00]

We've never had a tree because we would spend Christmas Eve at my parents house (even after I married... we were a 10 minute drive away). It is something my mom adored.

When we moved south, we didn't put one up, except for 2 years ago, fear the cats would take it down . Last year Mom died before Christmas and I wasn't "here". I flew home on the 18th and saw her, and stayed to help my dad with stuff.

This year I am pondering on getting a tree. With 2 toddlers... I am thinking of maybe a small tree. I am not sure yet. I don't even know where my ornaments are. Somewhere in storage.

 

[NotUrsula]

Yes -- me. Actually, my entire extended family on both sides, too, except for a couple of artsy "rebel" nieces who put theirs up early just because they want to go nuts on the decorating.

It's the traditional Irish country way; the tree stands only for the 12 Days of Christmas, from Christmas Eve to Epiphany. (To keep it up longer is considered dangerous because of the fire hazard of a dried-out tree -- house fires are common in the rural West of Ireland, and very much feared, because it may take a pumper truck an hour to arrive.)

At my sister's we go out on horseback and cut one in the woods, which is a lot more fun than the way we have to do it here. (Most of the lots in my city run out and shut down several days before Xmas, so we have to buy it a week or so ahead and leave it out in the back yard standing in a bucket of water.)

When the family is together, the entire day is a party. We go out and get the tree together, decorate it together, and have a big soup dinner (lots of non-family come for that, too.) When the kids have gone to bed, the adults all pitch in to help do any assembly on the toys and make sure that they are play-ready first thing in the morning. We tend to do that part under the influence, so the next morning can sometimes be interesting!

 

[pigletgirl]

Yes -- me. Actually, my entire extended family on both sides, too, except for a couple of artsy "rebel" nieces who put theirs up early just because they want to go nuts on the decorating.

It's the traditional Irish country way; the tree stands only for the 12 Days of Christmas, from Christmas Eve to Epiphany. At my sister's we go out on horseback and cut one in the woods, which is a lot more fun than the way we have to do it here. (Most of the lots in my city run out and shut down several days before Xmas, so we have to buy it a week or so ahead and leave it out in the back yard standing in a bucket of water.)

When the family is together, the entire day is a party. We go out and get the tree together, decorate it together, and have a big soup dinner (lots of non-family come for that, too.) When the kids have gone to bed, the adults all pitch in to help do any assembly on the toys and make sure that they are play-ready first thing in the morning. We tend to do that part under the influence, so the next morning can sometimes be interesting!

That actually sounds really fun!
The only question i have is, how do you dispose of the tree after epiphany?

 

[NotUrsula]

The same way we would dispose of it at any time; we cut it up and use it for kindling.

 

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

NO! I did this exactly ONCE - the first year my husband & I were married...
He had some cockamamie idea that we'd put our tree up & decorate it on Christmas Eve - apparently his parents had done this when he was very young.
Well let me tell you that it didn't work!
We celebrated Christmas Eve with my mother & sisters & came home from Midnight Mass to put up & decorate a tree... Needless to say, only the bottom half got lights and ornaments before I said "Enough!" , put a big red bow on the top half of the tree, and called it a night (actually it was about 4 or 5 in the morning by then!)
We celebrated Christmas Day later in the day at my husband's parents home - and we were still exhausted! Not a Christmas I ever want to repeat!
We've since had 3 children, and while I agree it's a wonderful sentiment to put the tree up after they've gone to bed; it's just not possible. I think it's a conspiracy concocted by men for Stepford Wives! After all the cooking, cleaning, shopping, wrapping, and what-not; to start decorating on Christmas Eve is insane, IMHO!
If you don't believe me, check out the photos from the 1950's - with those poor Charlie Brown Trees - with maybe 2 or 3 strands of lights, and 25 or so ornaments. You wouldn't possibly have time to do anything more. Those are nice, nostalgic pics - but you wouldn't want to live that life. Because, after all that last minute tree-stuff, you'd have to start assembling bicycles, filling stockings, etc.... Maybe that's why they liked those aluminum trees that rotated with a colored light shining on them - no trouble getting it in the tree stand, no trouble with lights that didn't light, no ornaments that fell off the tree and broke, etc...
For me & mine - we'll set the tree up early and enjoy it into the New Year.
And I'll never let my husband live down the year he almost "killed" us!
Merry Christmas!
Gretchen

 

[1stluvispooh]

When I was a kids we would get up the morning of Christmas Eve and go and cut down our tree bring it home and decorate it. Mom would make a big meal, by that time my grandparents would have arrived from out of state a couple of days before. After dinner dishes were done we opened up our presents to each other. Santa's had to wait till the morning of course. When we moved when I was 11 we stopped cutting down our tree and when I was in high school I think it went up a couple of days before. Not many though. What I really remember when I was little was the fact that my mom would spend the evening re arranging the ornaments on the tree!!! I refuse to do that so yep most of my ornaments are on the lower branches!