Sunday Survey
Well, with Thanksgiving officially over, its time to gear up for Christmas!
We pick a real tree from the beautiful forest that we call Home Depot (wink!). Our Little Guy turns TWO this week, and so we will most likely wait to decorate for Christmas until his birthday has been celebrated!
Have you/ will you set up your Christmas tree this weekend? Its traditionary (I LOVE making up new words!!!) right?
13 comments:
I am hoping to, but I need to get on the ball and put away the Thanksgiving decorations. :)
Ours (also from Home Depot -- so romantic, right?) always goes up the first weekend of December. I always feel like I can't wait to get it and then by the day after Christmas, I want that thing gone!
We always put up our tree Thanksgiving morning while watching the parade. Then we do the rest of the house throughout the weekend. And it comes down on New Year's day (while watching the parade.
I think the tradition of beginning Christmas celebration after Thanksgiving is a late 20th century development that kind of came out of the retail marketing push that happens then...as in, the sooner people start feeling "Christmassy," the sooner they start spending money!
I love seeing all the Christmas decorations and hearing all of the music, but when it all goes away December 26th, it always feels like a letdown to me (except sometimes I'm burned out on Christmas by then!).
After a few years of doing things the "normal" way, two years ago we decided at my house to keep the weeks before Christmas as quiet and prayerful as possible, then put the tree up on "Gaudete Sunday" (two Sundays before Christmas) and keep it up the whole twelve days of Christmas. We also spread the kids' gifts out over twelve days and try to plan some extra special meals and outings for during that time. Finally, our church friends plan our big Christmas party for Epiphany, the feast of the three kings that takes place at the end of the 12 days.
I love Christmas, and this change in schedule really helped us to pace ourselves and savor the season!
GREAT IDEAS! Thanks for sharing!
Believe it or not, after 20 years of marriage, this was my first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Soooooo, I had to decorate early. Due to the mild weather, the outside lights were up mid-November (not lit till Thanksgiving). So it's kind of weird at my house, having everything finished. Thank goodness for artificial trees! The last bit of decorating was done yesterday when my college student set up HIS "Dickens Village" before returning back to school today. I'm happy and the early decorating has reduced my stress level already.
My husband and I have the tradition that we do it the minute we get home from Thanksgiving dinner. We have a 3' tree from Hobby Lobby (our first "together" purchase when we were still dating), which makes decorating a snap. One strand of lights, one strand of garland, one package of bulbs, you get the gist. I usually buy the decorations for the next year at the dollar store for 50% off. Cost of this year's tree trim: $2.00 including the new star. We recycle from year to year though. Then we put up a few decorations upstairs and voila... Christmas time. This year we were lazy and skipped the lights, though. We only turn them on Christmas eve and we figured that it's one less electrical element that the cat could get into. The cat LOVES the Christmas tree. ;-) Photographic proof: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amoebastar/4145283590/
We've never really had a set time for having the tree up. Sometime before Christmas is about as scheduled as it gets around here. I'd like to put it up now, but I have to move furniture around to make room for it. I'm not up to that yet. We did hang lights outside today (Thank you Meijer for your $3.99 LED lights :D ). I keep going outside for a peek. I'm really excited for Christmas.
As my brother's birthday is Dec. 13 my mom NEVER decorated before Dec. 15. We have kept that tradition going. We usually get the tree the weekend before (to avoid a Charlie Brown tree...)and on the 15th do the decorating. We also celebrate 12th Night(Epiphany) by undecorating and having the last of the Christmas goodies. That is also when the kids get their "Kings Gifts"...a useful gift like socks, notebooks, etc. I love hearing everyone's traditions. Happy Birthday, Bo!!
We usually put up our tree Thanksgiving weekend....but I have a crazy 8 mon old that is hindering placement!! LOL I am not sure that we will get one up much bigger than on our kitchen table this year!!
Jessica
Growing up my mom always set the tree up day after Thanksgiving and we all decorated (RIP mom). I have tried to stick to that in my years on my own with my son, and sense moving in with my husband almost 3 yrs ago, I have worked trying to get him into the holiday spirits. With my mom's passing this past April, I am really into trying to stick to some of her traditions, the memories are important to me, especially with my family fading/distancing from each other.
The decorations come down New Years day as long as we are in town, this year we will be. In the past we have taken off day of or after christmas to stay at my dad's for a week. This year we may not get the luxury sense are family will not have a family vehicle.
Tradition is building family memories, and I really want that for my children.
Our tradition (since we don't have any December birthdays) is to put up all decorations that Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving.
We have an Advent Calendar tradition with our two sons (12 and 6) that started with my MIL, when my husband was young. Both my sons have an Advent calendar (made of felt, with little pockets for each day of December, 1-24). I put a little slip of paper into each pocket each evening, telling each boy about a surprise for that next day (for example, "Let's bake today!" or "You have a surprise playdate today" or "Let's go bowling today!" or "Let's make paper snowflakes today!", etc.). These are inexpensive things to do (or to receive...dollar store finds) that my sons LOVE. They love to look into that day's pocket each morning. We hang them on each boys' bedroom door. That is probably the main reason we put everything up right after Thanksgiving, so the Advent calendars are up by the evening of November 30!
But I agree, I am happy to have our family room back to normal on New Years Day!
PAM
We don't really have a "tradition" of when to put up decorations but I am happy to say that for the first year in many, my tree & house decorations were all put up this weekend. I have a son that will be 19 on Dec. 17 and the only stipulation for that is no Christmas wrapping paper. Happy Holidays!
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