When do you set up your christmas tree and decorations?

Usually the day after Thanksgiving or the first day of December. More recently, whenever mom can get someone to help her.

‘bout to set it up right now. when i was young, parents wouldn’t get out the tree until like two weeks before christmas, but now since i have my own kids, the excitement factor seems to be earlier. safe christmas tree assembly window would be right after thanksgiving because, well, this only happens once a year. and two, christmas is only ONE day.

a great dinner party takes a lot of prep. might as well make christmas seem like it’s 30 days of prep instead of just 1.

We do it the weekend that falls between 1 and 2 weeks before Christmas, so this year it should be the 13th-14th. I am in charge of the operation and actually choose the date and start things moving. I also take the lead in all tree-trimming and house-decorating activities. I don’t like it all to be up for too long because its charm wears out, and I don’t want the tree to be sagging by Christmas morn.

Between now and then, I have to take down all the fall decorations (I decorate heavily to get into the seasonal mood and overcome end-of-summer gloom), and the tree-choosing mission has to be launched. Fresh trees for us, picked by husband and one or more offspring at a nearby church lot. The clock starts tomorrow.

On New Year’s Day we perform the Last Miracle of Christmas, which is getting all the decorations back into the boxes they came from. It always looks like it simply can’t be done, and then—whoosh! the last thing gets stuffed in, and the last box is tied shut before anything can jump out again, and it’s all over.

When someone comes over and does it for me.

Usually the second or third week in December. My sister always wants to put it up earlier, and I always want to hold it off until later.

Oh YEAH. Christmas tree.
It seems it’s been happening later and later as my brother and I grow.

@shadling.. sorry to hear that. why don’t you just set it up yourself? or do you have a real tree that you put up? do what i did as a teen and bug my mom to put it up til she finally gave in! hehehe!!

Haha! I have no problem with not having the tree there for now. It makes cleaning the living room easier, and it allows me to forget that I have to buy presents.

I’m a little too busy with exams to hassle my mom about it, and I’d rather not force her to do it. But maybe once school is done with I’ll get up off my arse to put the thing up!

@ shadling good luck with your exams. and i totally agree with you about the livingroom clean. that is a very good point. we put ours up and then after taking it down it looks like we have so much room again. time for more clutter again.LOL!