When will your Christmas tree go up?

[Summer2018]

When I was a child, we put up the tree on Christmas Eve. It was magical. After I was married, we created new traditions including decorating the day after Thanksgiving. We aren’t Black Friday people.

 

[TCRAIG]

Fake one in the dining room in front of the big palladium window goes up week after Thanksgiving and live one for the living room will go up mid-December. Both will stay up til the 12 days of Christmas are over…sometime after Epiphany Sunday.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I thought you were going to say you were going to put them to work and have them do it!

…

As hosts we have rules to follow, including

• Please do not assign chores to recruits, aside from cleaning up their own plate (e.g., no peeling potatoes, vacuuming, or raking leaves); this is their day off.

 

[nw6675]

Finally got ours up. I was feeling kind of bah humbugish so it is later than usual. @fly girl not to rub it in, but our BH lights turned on for another year.

However, DH and I managed to lose the tree skirt, outdoor lights, and stockings

 

[jujubiee4]

Because it is 10ft it has been up for 2 1/2 weeks. Not decorated just up. Putting
decor on tonight. When I take down Halloween decorations and put in garage it
is much easier to pull out this heavy tree then. Then i can't stand to see the box/bags sitting
there so I just put up and wait to decorate.

 

[JLTraveling]

As soon as the rain clears and we can go buy a live one. Weather report looks like Sunday. We'll set it up and let the branches shake out for a couple of days before decorating.

 

[easyas123]

Probably weekend of the 17th.

 

[AuntieMe3]

We have one artificial and then also get a real one. The artificial I would've normally done this weekend but we had some plumbing problems that damaged our flooring and some drywall which needs to be repaired/replaced. I'll have to wait for that to be done before I can do any decorating.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Working on that right now, taking a break!

 

[sasywtch]

Usually I have lights outside and tree up/decorated by Thanksgiving but, this year I'm just not in the mood. My grandson is coming over tomorrow to put lights up outside and help me put the tree together. It use to be a lot more (villages, garland) but over the years as I got older, I realized you have to also put the stuff away later.

 

[CinderEmma94]

Our tree went up the weekend after Halloween. We will take it down over New Years. If we are going to take the time to decorate I want to enjoy the decor (it’s the only holiday/season we decorate for).

 

[NotUrsula]

Xmas Eve. It's a cultural tradition and also a safety precaution; a real tree left up too long in a heated home is a terrible fire hazard.
It comes down on Ephiphany.

 

[Meriweather]

Tree goes up today....early for us, but we leave the 4th for WDW for 10 days and want it all done when we get back.
Lights outside went up yesterday but they will not be turned on until the 1st.
The house inside decorations are almost done. I will finish those this morning while DH sets up the tree.
No outside decorations until we get back.

 

[evilmommie]

I started early this year-Nov 1st. As a couple of posters have remarked, it’s less stressful for me to get it all up early…so that it’s done for the month of December. I do quite a bit of decorating inside & out. I also enlist the help of a few friends. That’s always a fun time! We host several events and it’s stressful doing both at the same time.

 

[nw6675]

I want to cry. Just went in attic to look for missing lights and tree skirt. Looked over and a HUGE cockroach was on the top of stairs in the attic with me. My only way down. I smacked at him with a cooler and he dropped alive. Don't know if he dropped downstairs or into top crevice. My DD and I are dying.

Eta: my DH just got home from work and went up there to spray and turn off light....the darn thing fell downstairs from up there and DH killed it!!! Yay!!!

 

[disneyseniors]

When I was a kid, Mom and Dad put the tree up Christmas Eve, after we were in bed. They also wrapped and set up our gifts. They told us Santa brings the tree, but I just wished he brought it earlier like at the other kids houses, LOL.

 

[SueInBoston]

Went and cut down tree yesterday. It is now sitting outside in a bucket of water. I’m traveling next week . so it won’t go up until I’m back.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Well, the tree went "up" yesterday. We typically put our outdoor lighting display up during the week after Thanksgiving, and the tree is stored in the front of the storage shed. We had to move it to get the other stuff out, so we just put it up. Pre-lit, so it has lights on it, but no decorations yet. Maybe next week.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

My mother, who did not like Christmas, put our tree up on Christmas Eve and it came down the morning of New Year's Day. I'm so happy to be able to put a tree up when *I* want to. So, it goes up tomorrow (Sunday.) I would have put it up yesterday but we have the three-year-old as usual while his Mom works now that they've moved and he won't be here on Sunday. Yes, it's so sweet when small children "help" decorate a Christmas tree, but I'm a bit fussy so I'd rather do it myself without the "help."

 

[Wendy31]

Growing up, my mother always got the Christmas decorations out the day after Thanksgiving, & we decorated the tree & the rest of the house for Christmas that weekend (the weekend after Thanksgiving). Everything, including the tree, was then put away on January 1st.

After my husband & I got married, that’s what we tended to do as well - the Christmas tree & all the other Christmas decorations came out the day after Thanksgiving. And, then, we’d start putting everything away on January 1st.

Well, we now host Thanksgiving, & I quickly discovered it’s A LOT to host Thanksgiving. And I also have a lot of fall & Thanksgiving-specific decorations that need to be put away before all the Christmas stuff comes out. So, within a couple of years, I learned that it’s A LOT to clean up after Thanksgiving, put away all the fall & Thanksgiving decor, AND try to do all the Christmas decorating in the same weekend.

So, now, I get my Christmas trees up & decorated in the week BEFORE Thanksgiving. I decorate 3 trees - one in the kitchen, one in the living room, & one in the family room, & the trees in the living room & family have tons of ornaments & multiple ribbons & garlands & take a very long time to decorate. The kids also each have a tree in their bedrooms which they decorate, & my husband & I have a tree in our bedroom as well - which, as a “gift” to myself I do not decorate & just enjoy its lights.

So, long story short, here’s our new Christmas decorating timeline -

The week before Thanksgiving - trees up & decorated
The day after Thanksgiving - all the fall & Thanksgiving decorations put away
The Saturday & Sunday after Thanksgiving - the rest of the Christmas decorations put out.
Beginning on January 6th (the 12th day of Christmas) - Christmas decorations put away

And that’s what I’m doing today - putting out & arranging all the Christmas decorations that aren’t Christmas trees.