When do you put your tree up?

11 years ago

Back when I had a live tree, I used to wait until Dec 10-15, then that gradually moved up to where I was putting up the live tree anywhere after December 1. When Gary and I were married, he had an artificial tree and we've used that for the past few years. I've still refused to have Christmas decorations up until after Thanksgiving, though we have put up the outdoor ones (to beat the snow and cold) and just not turned them on until Thanksgiving weekend. This year, Gary is thinking it might be nice to have a live tree, which he hasn't had in years. I've given him the 'bad' news that I won't have a live tree in the house until first week of December, because I consider it a fire hazard to keep it up any longer (it's probably a fire hazard anyway after a couple of weeks, but oh well..). We've agreed that if we do a live tree, we will put it up and decorate it as the very last part of our decorating, sometime in December.

What's your schedule?

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Comments (40)

azzalea
11 years ago
Up on the Sunday before Christmas (I insist upon the decorations looking new and fresh on the holiday, not dusty and 'old'). And down on Jan. 6. I wish there were time in my life to put the tree up on Christmas Eve, as was the norm when I was a kid, but....
LuAnn_in_PA
11 years ago
Live tree goes up anytime after Thanksgiving, and before our annual brunch on the Second Weekend in December.

So it will be up and fully decorated by December 10th at the latest.
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This has never been a problem for us. Last year was the first year we had ANY outdoor decorations. I never understand how people have time for that sort of thing Â No kids? No jobs? No kids and no job? Kind grandparents to watch the kids? Lots of money to pay someone else to do it? Last year we (I) bought wreaths to hang on the windows and a few strands of lights for the front walkway. Taking the decorations down in a timely manner wasnÂt a problem. One by one all the wreaths fell off. By Christmas Day, I think we had ONE left. (Of course that one had to be pried off!) Apparently the command hooks that I bought werenÂt strong enough for the wreaths. IÂll have to regroup this year. Taking down the strands of lights took a little more effort, mainly because while removing the lights I found BAGWORMS on my weeping Japanese maple! So after removing the lights, I stood out in the cold with a pair of hand pruners and a plastic bag and meticulously snipped every last blankety-blank bagworm off my tree! I hope no-one throws stale candy canes at me, because I'm sure I didn't take down the globe lights until mid-January. We put up the decorations when we can, and we take them down when we can. Sometimes they are never put up. (We've had at least one Christmas with no tree.) Sometimes they are slow to come down. (One year my tree stayed up until March hence the reason I didn't put it back up the next year. I managed to put the tree UP during my maternity leave then couldn't figure out how to get it DOWN while working full-time with a newborn.) We have no set schedule or rules. We usually travel to be with family on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Spending time with family trumps decorating (or undecorating) any day. Nin
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linda_in_iowa
11 years ago
I am allergic to the water live trees stand in, so I have an artificial one. It goes up if and when I get around to it. I haven't put up a tree the last couple of years but I will this year. Usually right after Thanksgiving.
joann23456
11 years ago
About a week before Christmas, we put up a live tree.
dianamo_1
11 years ago
I plan on putting ours up right after Thanksgiving.

We have a white artificial tree. I'd love to be able to get a green one..but, it's not in the plans for this year.
Maybe next year we'll hit the lottery and I can get it. :)

By the way...the tree we have is much smaller than the ones we had when the kids were little. Has anyone else downsized their trees after their kids were grown?
kacram
11 years ago
About a week before Christmas day.
This year I am borrowing my friend's artificial tree,
so it might get put up earlier... we'll see. I do like to keep it up through the 6th.. or something like that! lol

wow "hit the lottery so I can get (a live tree)"
really ? just how much money do you guys have to pay for a live tree?
Jodi_SoCal
11 years ago
The last few years we've put it up on Christmas eve. Too much to do, so little time in December.

Jodi-
mary_c_gw
11 years ago
The last live tree I bought was about $80. That was 5 or 6 years ago for a 7' tree. You live in Washington, - pretty much Christmas tree land, LOL.

I live in Texas. Trees are expensive here, especially now with the drought. My artificial tree is 6.5', prelit, easy to put up and take down.
caroline94535
11 years ago
If I'm using a live tree, I put it up around Dec. 15. If I'm using the artificial tree, it can go up anytime after the Thanksgiving weekend. That's also when I set out the Nativity set and snowman display.

Wes has added an 8x22 deck to the front of the house to replace the old concrete steps. It has a lovely curved metal railing and steps that come off at a slant from the corner. I'm going to drape fresh lighted garland from deck post to deck post.

I also have a tall, skinny Christmas tree that resembles a Charlie Brown tree. It has a wood trunk, about 6' tall, with artifical branches and greenery draping downward. I'm setting it outside, on the deck, centered on the livingroom window. I think it will be cool to have a deck tree that can function as a center-livingroom tree, too. I'll have a small live tree inside.
oldgardener_2009
11 years ago
When I used to have a tree, it was a live tree and I'd decorate it around the middle of December. I'd put white lights and intricately detailed white paper snowflakes all over it, was simple and pretty.

We don't put up a tree anymore though.
lydia1959
11 years ago
We have an artificial tree and I like to have it up the week after Thanksgiving so we can enjoy it for about 4 weeks. It takes me almost a entire day to decorate the tree and what little I do in the rest of the house plus a day to take it all down... if it's not up for a few weeks it just doesn't seem worth it to me.
dianamo_1
11 years ago
"wow "hit the lottery so I can get (a live tree)"
really ? just how much money do you guys have to pay for a live tree?"

Kat, I meant a green artificial Christmas tree. I just bought the white one three years ago and I am finding I really miss the green.

November and December are expensive months for us..with taxes due and Christmas presents to buy. We have 4 kids and 5 grandkids and by the time I'm caught up with presents and all...there's not much money to play around with. I could buy one if I really wanted to..but, it's not an essentual I have to have.
lovemymimi
11 years ago
Whether or not we start decorating early...like before Thanksgiving...nothing gets lit up until Thanksgiving night.

Azzalea, When I was growing up we always thought that Santa Claus decorated the Christmas tree...lol!

Caroline, Great idea about having a deck tree now that you can...enjoy!
pekemom
11 years ago
Sometime after Thanksgiving I put a 4ft fiber optic tree on
a table in the family room. We usually go to our DD's for
Christmas, they have a big tree there. I have a 7ft slender
tree but have not used it yet, I'm afraid Caesar the peke
will chew it. He destroys everything he can.
nancylee_ky
11 years ago
I still get a live tree and put it up around Dec 10-12. It stays up til Jan 1st.
lynn_d
11 years ago
Our tree usually goes up the Sunday after Thanksgiving weekend, around the 4th of December, if it is too crazed we do it the next weekend. But I shoot for that first weekend. It must stay up till the Epiphany, January 6.
marie_ndcal
11 years ago
For several years we have not had any trees. But my sister in law had live ones in pots then when they got too big, would give them to us. We planted them in the mountains where we lived, and one grew well over 20 feet. I would trim it every year because of the fire danger and rattlesnakes. Sad to say, few years ago after we sold a fire wiped out everything except the house.
So, I would get a live one from a nursery, then plant it outside or donate to a park.
jemdandy
11 years ago
We put our tree up sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (We deal with one holiday at a time.) Last year, we had no reason to put it up and so did not. I'm the one who has to take it out of storage, erect it, and fix any failed lights, and then take it down after Christmas. So I don't do it unless someone in the family wants it badly enough. All of our kids are out of the house and this year I may send the wife 800 miles away to see our daughter and granddaughter. Paying for this trip has been a present from me to her.
kayjones
11 years ago
I have a 3' table top artificial tree and it goes up the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so the Grandkids can help decorate it. Presents start going under in a couple of weeks before Christmas.
matti5
11 years ago
If I'm putting up a real tree I usually do it 10 days before Christmas. Artificial goes up Thanksgiving weekend. I have an 11 foot pre-lit artificial going up this year. I take them down on New Year's Day.
susanjf_gw
11 years ago
out side stuff goes up when we have decent weather..no light on though til dec...which i 2 1/2 weeks away!!! omg...
Marilyn_Sue
11 years ago
We are not decorating this year as we will not be having Christmas here. However when we do put a tree up, Cheryl and Amber put it up for us and it usually is the week after Thanksgiving. Not a real one. Haven't had a real one in years.

Sue
morz8 - Washington Coast
11 years ago
We put up a live (meaning fresh, not living potted) about 10 days before Christmas, although I'll have a few decorations (mantle etc) out and a fresh wreath on the door before that. The tree comes down about New Years Day or so. It's always an unsheared noble, I need those spaces/tiers for my collection of only pear and partridge ornaments. We don't pay for it. For years we went to a plantation where they had been planted in an experimental plot by the company DH was working for, those got too big, now we go to a friends Christmas tree farm and cut one.

I have a friend who would always put up 5 or 6 themed trees, only one of those fresh. The others - she had a dry warm room off a guest room at one end of upstairs. The trees had covers, were put away with decorations and lights just as they stood, brought out again right after Thanksgiving the next year. I could appreciate and loved to watch the way she immersed herself in Christmas, but I've never done it myself :)
suzieque
11 years ago
I put mine up about a week or 10 days before Christmas. I like it to still be special and fresh at Christmas. If I were to put it up earlier I'd be used to it and it'd feel ordinary and even annoying by Christmas. I'd be ready to get it out of there.
Lily316
11 years ago
I am annoyed by Xmas and it's not even Thanksgiving. Since my husband was a forester , we always had the pick of the trees ...back then Douglas fir and when he retired we'd go to a Xmas tree farm and get a Frasier which I love. Now I do no tree. I spent an enormous amount of time putting all the antique balls on it and hardly anyone saw it so I bagged the whole thing the next year. We spend the day at our daughters, don't exchange gifts anymore except for the kids so what's the point? I put big real fir wreaths on all our doors and little folk art trees around and then decorate with live greens for the smell. Xmas used to be a huge deal and now it's something to suffer thru. And I'm doubly irritated this year when many stores here open at 10PM Thanksgiving night. So we can't have one family holiday with out commercialism setting in.
lazypup
11 years ago
I put it up in the attic last january and if its left up to me,,it can stay there
gemini40
11 years ago
I bought an artificial tree last year my first one.Perhaps this weekend it will go up but won't be decorated until Thanksgiving weekend.The temptation to buy a small real tree is in the back of mind and I think I will do it, and put it in my kitchen which is very large.That is the room I spend the most time in anyway ,so why not. Nothing beats the smell of a real tree.Now that I've written about it I've convinced myself to do it....Thanks guys..
gazania_gw
11 years ago
Live or artificial, I have never put a tree up till, at the earliest, 2 days before December 25th. I stuck to Christmas Eve, till 2 years ago when I gave in and did it a little earlier just because the kids next door could come over then. Growing up, Dad put up the tree on Christmas Eve after we kids went to bed. I still like that tradition. Christmas morning then was a magical time for kids. These days, with Christmas beginning in September, the "magic" by Christmas morning is bedraggled, dusty and worn thin. The 'gimmees' under the tree are all that is left for our overindulged kids. Yes, call me scrooge if you like!
Holly_ON
11 years ago
Christmas trees are just memories to me now. We have four very active siamese/oriental cats so a tree would be a futile effort. We do decorate the outside of the house with lights and they are up now as the weather was perfect to do this without freezing my hands. I will add a few more indestructible indoor decorations later in December.
Jasdip
11 years ago
I haven't put a tree up in years. Mom loved decorating their tree.
I didn't mind putting my tree up a couple weeks before Christmas, but it was down first thing Boxing Day.

We asked Step-father if he was going to do a tree this year, and he said, he'd put it up, but we'd have to decorate it. So SIL and I are going over one day to do it. He said for us not to be in a hurry! LOL
bunnylover21
11 years ago
Always do decorating after Black Friday shopping. When we had a real tree, that would wait until about the 2 week of Dec. Now that we have an artificial, we do it on Black Friday also.
monica_pa Grieves
11 years ago
Live tree about a week ahead of Christmas.
wanda_va
11 years ago
I used to dread the hassle of putting up a tree--but I always did. Several years ago, I bought an artificial tree that has the lights and decorations on it...it goes up in less than 2 minutes! It is so convenient that I bought a second one for the lower level. They are only 6-1/2 feet tall, but that's big enough for us. If I didn't have them, I wouldn't put a tree up at all. I put them up the week before Christmas, and they stay up until the second week in January.
jannie
11 years ago
Even tho I have a small artificial table top tree, I wait till the weekend before Christmas, which will be Dec. 17-18 this year.
jackie_ok
11 years ago
I usually put up an artificial tree ten days to two weeks before Christmas. I don't have a really good place for it. It is kind of in the way, so it comes down January 2nd.
summershine1
11 years ago
I have 2 up already. I just did the big tree today. I did a 4' white one 2 weeks ago. I have one more small one I will get up next weekend as I realized I don't have lights for it right now.
I just love Christmas and like to have the tree up as soon as possible.
pattico_gw
11 years ago
I'm planning on doing it this week...Denny will think it is too early... He'll just have to suffer...LOL

If he says anything...I'll make him a "Bah Humbug" shirt and make him wear it....

patti
cynic
11 years ago
Hoping to do some decorating this weekend. Really enjoyed the lights last year. Hope to enjoy them this year. Now that I'm not in retail anymore I'm starting to get back to enjoying a little bit of the holidays.
mary_c_gw
11 years ago
DS and his girlfriend came for TG dinner, and out of the blue, DS asked if we'd like him to put up the tree!

So he moved the desk, which sits in the tree spot, hauled down the tree, set it up, and took the box back upstairs. It's not decorated, but the worst of the job is out of the way. And being a pre-lit tree, it looks festive already.
gabbythecat
11 years ago
Holly, we also do not have a tree because of the cat problem. We only have one cat, but she considers any type of Christmas tree or other decoration as a toy. I even tried a tabletop candle/wreath ornament - you know, nice red candle in the middle of a nice (artificial) wreath. When I scolded our cat for chewing on the wreath, she grabbed the whole arrangement and started to drag it off the table. The candle was *lit*, too (shudder). Obviously, that didn't last long. Since we love our wild little cat, we just enjoy decorations at other homes - unless we have time to put up lights on some of our buildings.

When do you put your tree up?

Comments (40)

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