A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2003 When do you put up the tree?

The reindeer food site reminded me that it's almost time to start shoving furniture around to make room for the tree. Wow, where did the year go??? I try to get the tree up right after Thanksgiving. Yup, artificial... I've heard many live-versus-artificial debates over the years...but...a live one gets crunchy and scary by the time The Day rolls around. "But you don't have the pine smell," people will argue. "Get out the areosol," I say....Haw! I love the decorations, sights and smells of the season. I turn back into a little kid at Xmas.

Yep, the weekend after Thanksgiving is when it goes up...and we do artificial too. Too much of a fire hazard by New Year's otherwise...(that's when it always comes down) Much easier too, and we all need "easier" anything when it comes to the busy holiday season! I love this time of year and get all caught up in it...looking forward to this year because grandson is almost 2 and will be such fun this year!

I'm all for as simple as possible the older I get. Besides, by the time I'm finished decorating the tree, it has 600 lights on it...A live tree would be a huge hazard ...and...I'm not one to remember to keep the tree stand full of water. The only difference in an artificial tree is that you're not still vaccuuming needles out of the carpet in April!

Oh my gosh, it's funny you should ask,
we were just talking about my neighbor,

(I know there's something about "Thou Shalt
not talk about your neighbors thing", but
can't help my self, I'm just not that fast
~is my thought behind it, I'm lucky if I get
it up in time for X~mas!)
Anyways, she puts her tree up and baugh's
on the windows on Nov. 1st.

I get mine up *when my husband* used to
get a live tree if I was lucky to get it 4 days
before Christmas. And down after Feb.1.
(I'd leave it up for a small Super Bowl party.)
But now, I have and artifical tree and I can
put it up 2nd week in Dec. I have a 3 year old,
last year he was 2 and I was afraid to put it
up at all with him, (I didn't have a baby,
I had a monkey he's a climber and I was afraid
for the tree and my grandmother's ornaments.....)
I'm thinking it'll fair better this year and I won't worry too much.

Heck I'm still taking down the Halloween deco's.
I'm slow!

Weezie
With the artificial tree, I STILL have the urge to water the darn thing.

We were driving home the other day and spotted at least 15 houses already fully decorated outside....lol I couldn't believe it!!! I did however have my husband bring all the boxes up from the basement.....I'm itching to put the stuff out....maybe not the tree yet, which is artificial, but at least to start doing the house....I'm english and we decorate with tons of indoor decorations.....it takes a while to put them all up....I'll hold off though, probably until right before thanksgiving only because my brother is coming for thanksgiving from michigan and I want him to see our house decorated...he's never saw our house at all yet because we just bought it back in feb. Too heck with the decorations, I just can't wait until black friday.....
By the way, if any of you want something unique to try at the dinner table you have to buy some christmas crackers....they are long metallic tubes that you pull with the person sitting next to you...it snaps when you pull it, and inside is a paper hat, which is worn while you eat, a joke or motto, and a little toy....It's an English tradition and you can find them over here in specialty stores.....we bought them for 20 bucks for 10 which is a rip off really, you can get them so cheap in england.....but we were out and we had to have them for christmas.....they are tradition, that and an english pudding....yummy!

Our younger daughter has a birthday on the 17th. (She made a real mess of Christmas a lot of years ago when she arrived 2 weeks early). We have always celebrated her birthday on the Sunday before her day and as a child she would ask if the tree could be up for her birthday. Now that she is a mother herself, we still have her here for a birthday celebration and the tree usually gets up just in time. We still have a real, cut tree every year. We really enjoy having the tree in the house and are very careful to keep it well watered.
The funniest part of putting up the tree is the yearly argument about the big white plastic bag. Hubby doesn't want to bother with it and I want it done since I'm the one who has to take the tree down and drag it out of the house. I win the argument but it requires a lot of insisting on my part.

thanksgiving day or the day after. always artificial, between my daughter's and my allergies/asthma, by the time a pine bough has been in the house an hour, I can't breath and neither can she.

Loz, I wonder if the "Early Decorators" take their cue from the retailers? I saw Xmas stuff in stores just as Halloween was approaching!

By the way, does anyone buy Xmas decorations AFTER Xmas? You can get them for a song. I think I must've gotten over half of my stuff on clearance over the years. I put the new purchases away when I take down the tree & then (my fading memory being what it is) I'm hugely surprised at the goodies I unpack the next year

Oh JC,
Loz and I are already ahead of you talking about
that, WE BOTH LOVE SHOPPING FOR BARGAINS
We use to have Ames here on this coast, not sure about that coast but, the bargains were unbelievable there. At the end of each season they would mark things down 50%and 75% and just like you said, that's the time of year to buy the stuff, cause when you pack all the bargains away, and come the next season, and you get that urge to buy something (and your heart begins to ache because that stuff is soooooooooo expensive) you just go to your box and open it up and you remember all that great stuff you got last year and then the urge to buy stuff isn't that great and you've got all new stuff for soooooooooo much less and at the end of the season you can do it again...
My mom LOVED that store, on top of all those types of bargains, They'd have a senior day on Tuesday's....an additional 10% off. Oh, it was so much fun to go to the store and see all the seniors shopping...And we love going to the clearance rack and they'd be changing season's and we'd get brand new outfits for $1.25 or $2.50/
Unbelieveable!!!! She'd buy two three bags full, and as my children grew, they'd have new out fits ready for those growth spurts!!
The stores been gone now for almost two years, well needless to say, I'm now just running out of clothes for them....We went to Wally~World last night to get some new sneakers and talk about sticker shock, they hardly ever have a bargain like those!

Weezie

Hey JC, you'll just have to be included into the "BARGAIN HUNTERS CLUB"
Loz is a way bigger shopper than I am now, she's
ready for shoppers annonomus!!! I think she's mostly done with her X~mas shopping already!
That's another subject with my husband,
Christmas Shopping!!! :p

Weezie you make me laugh....yes I am almost done, just have a few more presents....but my spare bedroom is stacked full of wrapped presents....lol I should be in a shopping self help group....I am always looking for the bargains...first place I go is to the clearance racks....Walmart just had tons of skirts, capris, and shirts on the 3 dollar rack...so I bought a bunch of them for next year.... My dad brought me back a keychain from England that say Addicted to Shopping, well that's me.....I'm always buying stuff for everyone. A good cheap online place to shop is Overstock.com I shop on there a lot...2.95 shipping which is really cheap and some really good bargain books and CD's....I got my dad a 3 CD Time Life Classical Music set for two something....including shipping!!! And I buy tons of Christmas decs in the sales.....actually I was going through my boxes the other day and was excited to find a lot of things I bought last year that I had forgot about......I'm itching to start but I know I have to hold back for a while!!

Weezie, I miss Ames too....the 3 we had here were great though when they had there going out of business sales....I was there almost everyday...got a beautiful jewelry armoire for 27 bucks!!! They have the same one at walmart for 100 bucks....that was my best deal ever I think!! Oh and I got a really nice suede coat from ames for 20 bucks, it was regularly 80 bucks!! My family calls me the bargain queen!!!

Loz,
I got the "Total Gym" that Chuck Norris and
Christie Brinkly advertise, for $100.00.
Those things are not cheap, and shipping and handling alone... we love it, of course, since the
second wee~one is here, there's not much room
in here for it!!!
I miss Ames, my oldest is going to be naked pretty soon if we don't find some as~good bargains for him somewhere's. Between finding slim pants and boots we're going broke alone!!
Weezie

Loz!!!

Overstock.com is where we got the copper ice-bucket thingy that we made the fountain out of. (check our webshots. Whoooee, boy! I love a bargain!

Usually our tree goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving but this year we are going away for the holiday, so I'm putting up the tree this weekend (artifical of course). That way it will be Christmas when we get home from our trip. We are going to Portland, OR to celebrate my birthday. We just picked a city we've never been to and we're off! I'm so excited, even though it should be a bit colder there than here.

I'm so sad though because I am going to miss our traditional shopping on Black Friday as Loz calls it. I'll be shopping on vacation but that's just not the same. :rolleyes: I love the day after Christmas shopping. I always take the day off from work and hit all the sales. So many great decorations and Christmas goodies are on sale. Plus its the best time to use those gift certificates you get as presents! <img border="0" alt="[clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

we use to always do a real tree and was up a few days before christmas when they start marking it down.i grew up with a real tree and those fab bubble lights.we did an artificial tree last year cause hubby refused to go buy me a real one.it has lights built in it.was tempted to place it out in yard but box says indoor only .i have 11 boxes of christmas stuff.mostly crafty stuff and even have wall hangings& have a strand of 50 lighted brass bells that plays 12 christmas carols that has a remote.good thing my neighbors are deaf but the girls ain't so they will be the ones complaining.& got a lighted arbor last yr on clearance for $10 at sear and a blow up lighted snnowman.bet hes the only snowman back here in the ridge that melts every morning..LOL learned ya gotta anchor them stakes real good cause TX wind can re place him to new spot.I don't even remember what the other end of year goodies are,but if go dig up box will want to put it all out
i need more halloween stuff and still didn't buy that much of that this time

Gardengal, have a lovely, exciting birthday. Many Happy Returns.

Thank you very much, Jillie. I am actually having a Thanksgiving birthday this year. That's always so much fun!

Christmas is so lovely here in Germany. Our city has just started putting up decorations, white lights and evergreen wreaths. The huts for the Christmas Market are being constructed. It is sooo charming here!
Since we live in an apartment, I got a tiny live Christmas tree. When we were in Switzerland we had a bigger live tree in a pot, and used it for 2 or 3 years then put it in the woods. The one I got for this year is only a foot and a half high...mini! But I got a pretty red pot for it...it really makes the corner there look festive. My husband and I are horn players, so most of our decorations are hunting horns. :rolleyes: If anyone here ever has thought of going to Europe, December is a realllly neat time here, with the Christmas markets and less touristy crowds. Someday I hope to hop up to England at Christmas time. Not this year, maybe next.

I'm officially guilty of decorating before thanksgiving....I've had the tree up for a few days now and all the other decs too....all except outside......I always used to do it all the first weekend in December, but for some reason this year I had the urge to do it all early....lol :p

Atta girl, Loz! Decorating guilt is good! Have a happy T-day!

Hope you have a hapy turkey day too!!!

If I were entertaining at my house for thanksgiving I wouldn't have put them up yet, but since it is always at my moms I figured what the heck.....nobody will see them....I have so many decorations now I can't believe it.....and I realized I have a strange obsession with cute little snowmen....didn't know I had so many until I started putting things up....LOL I always buy a few decs after christmas when stuff is 75 percent off....then when you pull it out the following year you are surprised by what you have....a lot of things you'd forgotten about.

Got the outdoor lights put up today and the decs out there....well, my husband got on the roof and did it and I supervised.....lol I did the rest of the decorations though and froze my little butt off!!! It was freezing out there today, but really sunny....figured we'd get out and put them up while my husband felt like doing it...lol Told him that I didn't want to be one of those people that leave them up all year and that his butt was going back up there to take them down when the holidays are all done....

This is our first year decorating our house and it's so much fun!!! I lived in a small 2 bedroom apt for 5 years, so being able to have a house to decorate is so much better! I ordered some christams decs over the summer and forgot that I had them.....it's fun pulling things out of the boxes when you forget you even bought them.

Loz,
Putting them up is always fun!!

It's the taking it down part that s :p cks!!!

Especially on the cold, blistery freezing days.

I've still got some up from a few years ago!!!

I like the ones that Jillie and JC Hollywood used for their porch, so those can be left year round and used as low lighting effect, lighting walk ways, and night lights for out doors.

What were they called again??
They told me, brain~drain!!!

Mine are the icicles!!! :p

Weezie

Well it won't take anywhere near as long to take them down....we just have plain lights wrapped with green garland....we have it hooked in the gutter and then hanging down a little, then hooked in the gutter and hanging down again, and so on the whole way down the porch......so it took a while to try to get all the parts to look even.....taking them down should be a snap...and the other outdoor decs. shouldn't be too hard.....

It's the inside that will take me the longest to get back to normal.....I have something christmasy in every spare corner and on every shelf.....I think I overdo it....lol :p But it just looks so nice, and helps get me in the christmasy mood.....It's always kind of nice to take the all down inside....get things back to normal, but it always feels sort of bare for a while....takes a while to readjust to not having so much stuff out....

Hey it's officially December, not long left now until the big day....it'll be here before we know it!!!

I love coming home from work, now, and driving through the neighborhoods. Xmas lights & displays everywhere you look. I love this. It really puts me in the mood to see what all the neighbors have done.