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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to not put my Christmas Tree up til the 23rd Dec.

40 replies

GetOrfMoiLand · 08/12/2009 11:55

DD's birthday is on 14th so everything Christmas is on hold until after that.

I am not going to put the Chjristmas tree up after work, I am away weekend of 19th and 20th, so 23rd is first free day.

We are having a real one so leaving it for as long as poss reduces needle shedding. Plus we have 2 young cats who will probably view it as a climbing frame so the later the better.

Proposing putting the tree up so late has caused howls of rebellion and I am being treated as if I am mix of Scrooge/Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother/the crim mother out of the Goonies.

FFS

OP posts:
GetOrfMoiLand · 08/12/2009 11:56

Please don't suggest that I get DP and DD to do it - they will do it wrong and will sneak tinsel and hideous decorations in the house in my absence

OP posts:
FiveGoMadInDorset · 08/12/2009 11:58

YANBU haven't decided when to do ours but will be 18th or beyond.

AgentZigzagDoingAYuleLog · 08/12/2009 12:09

Why does your DDs birthday mean you can't put up the tree?

Let your DD and DP put it up and you can just tweak it then...don't be such a misery, there's no good trying to fighting against Christmas, you'll lose every time lol

Bramshott · 08/12/2009 12:12

We always used to put ours up on Christmas eve when I was a child.

everlong · 08/12/2009 12:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

displayuntiltwelfthnight · 08/12/2009 12:14

YANBU at all! I would never put mine up before then before I had dcs and we wait until the birthdays in December are over with so the birthday child has their day and it isn't mingled in with Christmas, Bed enough that children with December birthdays get joint birthday and Christmas pressies just because of having a birthday in December (my brother) but to have the tree up as well seems a bit unfair IMO.
Stick to your guns - there's still plenty of time to enjoy the tree over Christmas and until 6th Jan!

fernie3 · 08/12/2009 12:14

aw I love putting my tree up! we did it on sunday just gone.we dont have a real one though because last year m son kept eating the branches.

YANBU though its up to you when you want to put it up although my husband and chidlren would do it anyway if I told them to wait !

displayuntiltwelfthnight · 08/12/2009 12:15

sorry, bad enough....not bed enough

GroundHoHoHogs · 08/12/2009 12:17

How old is your DD? My DS will be 4 on 14th, and up till now I've been fierce about separating the birthday and the Christmas.

I insisted on a week between the 2 last year... I was actually threatened with Divorce... and DH isn't even Christian.

This year DS is really conscious of everyone else doing decorations and has actually asked when we will have ours. It's also our first Christmas back in the UK. So I've relented and put up a swag on my fireplace.

We're going to buy our tree the day after, or the Weds, but I am a SAHM so it's a whole lot easier. I've decided that buying the tree a day or so after his birthday will be our family tradition, I'll have to do it this year, but i want it to be a father/son tradition when DH is back home with us.

If your DD is older, perhaps ask her if she'd like to have a tree on the Sunday?... It's only a day before, and 23rd is a bit close, seems such a shame to leave it till 23rd...

i know we try to keep birthdays and Christmas separate so they are individually special, but perhaps the whole Christmas season is special, cos they get their very own special day right in the middle of it all?

Glitterknickaz · 08/12/2009 12:19

You might have a bit of a problem getting a decent tree on the 23rd though, there will only be the scraggy ones left!

oldwoman · 08/12/2009 12:21

Why will you not put it up after work?

Bramshott · 08/12/2009 12:26

Ah let them do it on the 19th, and then reorganise it yourself on the 23rd !

PfftTheMagicDragon · 08/12/2009 12:28

They are going to want to help with the decorations anyway so why don't you let them do the hard work- getting the tree, getting it in, putting it up. Late them decorate it and then redo it to your taste when you get back from your weekend away.

slimyak · 08/12/2009 12:32

We always put the tree up the weekend before Christmas when I was a kid, but back in the day the needles would drop before you got the tinsel on and the shorter it's up the less you have to pick out of the cats paws.

I understand the keeping birthdays and Christmas seperate, my ex's b.day was the 15th, but now we have a clear run from the 29th Nov to 2nd Jan.

The tree is up!

It doesn't take that long, and why not let DH and DD do it, you can always take your control freak self to it later when they've done all the grunt work.

I'd put it up, there's enough to bicker about over Christmas without starting now.

GetOrfMoiLand · 08/12/2009 12:33

Thanks everyone!

DD is 14 on the 14th (DP is 47 - they are both big kids) - we have always keps DD's birthday completely seperate from Christmas as December birthdays are so shit. Think DD would love tree to go up on the day before her birthday, however my brother is visiting from America (a surprise to DD) so we won;t be able to do that.

I just casually dropped it in to conversation last night that tree would go up on 23rd, expecting a hmm yes ok response, however they both looked at me as if I said I was cancelling Christmas.

Looks as if I will do it after work. Do I trust DP to buy a tree? Knowing him he will get a 10 footer or something.

OP posts:
OrmIrian · 08/12/2009 12:35

No not at all. We won't be doing it until 19th. Never do.

But I'd buy it before that and leave it in a bucket in the garden.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 08/12/2009 12:36

I'm getting one on friday only becuse the Dc fo to MILs from the 18th - 23rd and she only has a 1ft fibre optic affair. But then we go away xmas eve until 2nd so will probably come home to a dead tree.

lovechoc · 08/12/2009 12:37

we put ours up at the weekend there. bit early for my liking but it's really for DS's benefit, so it's up now.

I can appreciate you wanting to hold out, esp with your DDs birthday so close to Christmas.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 08/12/2009 12:38

Oh yes leave outside for at least 24 hours if it is from an indoor shop. Otherwise move it in but leave a day before decorating it.

I still hoover up occasional needles from las years tree, they get all jammed between the floorboards

MrsJohnDeere · 08/12/2009 12:40

YANBU at all. Ours won't go up until Sun 20th at the earliest. I'll buy it earlier and keep it outside or in the garage until the appointed day.

Makes it more special and exciting to do it later, imo.

bigchris · 08/12/2009 12:43

ours is going up on xmas eve to make the excitment last well past the end of the school term iyswim

Piffpaffpoff · 08/12/2009 14:42

Ours is going up on Saturday 19th - we always put it up about a week before. And I will stick to this rule for as long as I can!!

PrincessToadstool · 08/12/2009 15:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

inthesticks · 08/12/2009 15:03

I have a DC with a Jan 2nd birthday, which is just as bad as a December one. I have always put the tree up early and then clear it all out before his BD.
Last year he insisted that I leave the tree up until after his birthday.Maybe it's us who are trying too hard to separate Christmas and Birthday.

GetOrfMoiLand · 08/12/2009 15:21

Princess - my brother is coming down on the Sunday at about 10am, we haven't seen him for a year so day will be spent together, probably go out etc, don't think want to spend this time getting a tree and decorating it!

Christmas birthdays are awful.

Think will leave it - everyone I know seems to have their tree up already. Honestly though DP and DD are a pair of babies.

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