What is the traditional date for putting the tree up?

[twentyfourth]

My mum used to put ours up on the 24th after we'd gone to bed so it was a surprise in the morning. It was then all taken down they day after the 12 days of Christmas.

When is actually traditional?

I did mine on the 1st!

Annoyingly, the market has adapted to cater to the early birds putting trees up on Dec 1st. My local garden centre has no trees left after about Dec 5th, so you have to buy one far too soon and try to stop it wilting by Xmas. All the lovely fresh cut pine smell has gone by the time you bring it indoors. And as I’m in Scotland, the poor tree has been unable to drink as the water freezes in its bucket while it’s waiting in the garden for weeks!

Everyone has their own traditions so there is no right or wrong. For us the tree goes up the weekend before Christmas and always down on NYE when Christmas is over and I’m ready to start the next year.

normally it would be about the 20th, but this year....we have just done it today !

I used to hang out and put up the weekend closest to the 15th december but the past couple of years the kids have worn me down so it's gone up at the start of December. I put it up this week on the 2nd and I have to admit it's made me a tad excited and christmassy feeling. I take it down the day after Boxing Day usually, absolutely hate waking up New Year's Day to the tree and decs so they have to be well away by then.

I'm a teacher so I like to put mine up when i get home on the last day of term. I am also a take it down on boxing day person.
Most years it's up for less than a week, it just takes up too much room in our tiny house.

Your mum was right @twentyfourth that is the traditional way of the Christmas tree.

First week of December. So this weekend

First weekend of Dec I mean

That’s a good point about the non drop trees not being available. We get one of those and it’s fine from about the 6th to the new year but the normal, dropping type probably wouldn’t be.

Generally I usually decorate the weekend before christmas or the one before that if Christmas is on a Monday - so around 17th - 20th I suppose.

This year will be this weekend, but that's just because I'm working every weekend until Christmas after this one so it's easier!

The tree is usually up weekend before Xmas day, and stays until 12th night, love the smell so try and get a freshly cut one. Garland for door is earlier, mind you this is only for postman’s benefit and I may get the mantle piece Decs and lights out this weekend.

I used to work at Tesco's and one year worked Christmas Eve. As we were serving customers buying their Christmas food and treats, staff were on cherry pickers removing all the Christmas shop decorations. They couldn't even wait until Boxing Day to do this. Christmas was over before it had begun but at least Tesco tills were ringing.

The tradition was always that Christmas began with putting up the greenery on Christmas Eve, then there were the 12 days of Christmas with the biggest celebration on Epiphany. I love that life slows down between Christmas and New Year. Boxing Day is my favourite day of the year, except the year we had 12 people in the house and I realised the leftovers weren't sufficient and I needed to cook again. Those that take the decorations down on Boxing Day are just wrong. It's so lovely to celebrate the Christmas birthdays and Hogmanay with the decorations up. My DC who is born in the summer always wanted Christmas Decorations up for her birthday as well!

We are currently in the season of waiting, 'Advent' so we set out the Advent wreath with four candles on the 1st Sunday in Advent (four Sundays back from Christmas Day). Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, decorate it listening to the carol service from Kings College Cambridge. The sound of the boy soprano solo is the start of the real Christmas season for me.

All preparations done, no more travelling, it's just decorate and wrap a few token presents.

Everything down again by twelfth night, or maybe a day earlier depending on when we go back to work.

Avoid the shops, buy online well in advance, minimise the presents we give anyway (contribute to savings accounts for the younger members so just give token presents. Anything we watch on TV is downloaded to avoid the adverts.

Lovely, no stress Christmas. Bliss.

One C of the things I treasure about being an adult and paying the bills is I get to do it the way I remember from my childhood.

IMO the reason so many people put trees up so early now, is because there are reasonably realistic looking fakes, which wasn’t the case years ago. Nobody in their right mind would put a real tree up in November.

When I was younger we always put the tree up 12 before and took it down 12 days after

We always put ours up the first weekend of December and then take it down between Christmas and New Year

My mum was a teacher too, so we put ours up on the weekend we broke up from school and then down on 12th night.

Now, I buy the tree mid December and finally get it decorated (and all the decs up) the weekend before Christmas. I love having it up over the period between Christmas and new year, it makes that week so special, and then we take it down on 2nd January.
Boxing Day is my favourite in the whole festivities; the kids have cool stuff to engage them, all the cooking and preparation is done and I can really relax, feeling the glow of a happy family and lots of yummy cold cuts and left over food.
Really looking forward to it all this year.
However you do it, I hope you have the best Christmas possible.

The age old tradItion was to put tree up on Christmas Eve and take it down on 12th night (jan 5th) ready for Epiphany on the 6th.

When we were kids it went up 12 days before and came down 12 days after, which was the 6th Jan in our house as always kept it up for my birthday on the 5th.

Now ours goes up 1st Dec, down anywhere between 3rd and 5th Jan.

1st of Advent, always