The Lights Are Up

[Philotomy Jurament]

Just put up Christmas Lights on my house, and retrieved all the Christmas decorations from the attic.

Hopefully my wife and kids will quit bugging me, now (they were nagging me about it all weekend)!

[EOTB]

Yeah, I'm going to have to go get a tree here pretty soon. Apparently there's a national christmas tree shortage.

Luckily, there's a few u-cut places near to me.

[Juju EyeBall]

[Falconer]

Got the tree last night. Seems early to me, but, my wife grew up doing it Thanksgiving weekend. We also watch White Christmas on Thanksgiving Day.

[Philotomy Jurament]

I grew up with real Christmas trees, and always enjoyed the smell and such. When I started my own family I continued the tradition of using real trees at Christmas, but a few years ago I caved in and went with an artificial tree. Definitely easier to deal with, but I still feel oddly guilty for abandoning the tradition.

[T. Foster]

We got a real tree for the first time this year, because our new place is big enough for it (in the old apartment we had a small artificial tree on a table that will now go into the guest room). We bought it on Saturday and decorated it yesterday - it looks and smells great

[Geoffrey]

My daughter's birthday is on the first day of December, so we are in birthday mode through then. Our Christmas tree goes up as soon as the 2nd or as late as the 24th, depending on when my wife and daughter wish.

[garhkal]

Got my lights and tree (6ft artificial) up. WE are doing the outside lights every other day, and the tree's lights ever other day offset (So they are on if the outside lights are not, and visa versa)..

[Melan]

That's early! (According to local custom, we put ours up on December 24 and remove it on January 6.)

I wonder - those of you who use a real tree, how do you keep it fresh through an entire month? Does it come with a large ball of earth that keeps the roots alive?

[tetramorph]

We do the wreath and outside lights on Advent Sunday 1. That is late this year, this Sunday rather than the one immediately following American Thanksgiving, because Christmas is on a Monday this year, making Advent 4 and Christmas Eve the same day. Short Advent.

We also like to keep our tree up through January 6 for the 12 days and Epiphany, so we try to put up our tree as late as we can, but with “Christmas inflation,” it is hard to find anyone selling fresh trees close to Christmas Day itself. We usually go for 3 Advent but may have to bump it up this year because Advent is so short.

And then there is that Christmas tree shortage!

[Falconer]

That's early! (According to local custom, we put ours up on December 24 and remove it on January 6.)

It used to be that way in America, too. According to at least one tradition, the children would wake on Christmas day to see the tree for the first time (Santa Claus brings it). Now, thanks to consumerism, the “Christmas season,” with all its trees and music and TV movies, effectively leads up to Christmas day and promptly ends.

[Geoffrey]

I wonder - those of you who use a real tree, how do you keep it fresh through an entire month? Does it come with a large ball of earth that keeps the roots alive?

I grew up in a mountain community in Colorado, and we owned 20 acres of forested land. Every year we would cut our own tree off of our own land, cutting straight through the trunk with a hand saw. Our Christmas tree stand was shaped like a large bowl, which we would keep filled with water. This enabled the tree to be fresh for a whole month.

[Wheggi]

There’s a guy up the road who sells Christmas trees out of his barn. They also have mulled cider, hot cocoa, coffee and some baked goods made by the wife. Possibly the most country Christmas thing I’ve ever encountered. We will probably go there next weekend to get our tree.

- Wheggi

[Melan]

We also buy our tree from a farm, but the common spruce has never lasted more than two weeks (some of the fancier firs are better). We'd rather buy something we could plant after Christmas, but if we did, all the garden would be filled with former Christmas trees. A bowl of water sounds like a good way to keep them green, however.

For Advent, we stick with the traditional wreath-and-candles.

[ThirstyStirge]

You heathens clearly don't worship the EGG.

I will be showing my piety by placing the traditional egg on its stand flanked by d20s at the altar. All I need now are human sacrifices.