When Does Your Family Put Up the Christmas Tree?

Over the years our family tradition as to when the Christmas tree must be in place has, shall we say - evolved.

In our early married years, we were purists and wouldn’t dream of tree trimming before Christmas Eve, but the years passed and slowly we gave in to the clamor of children. First we relented to the week before Christmas, then to the beginning of Advent and finally to our current line in the shifting sand, Thanksgiving.

Now the tradition at Plummer Manse is to work off the Thanksgiving feast by hauling out the decorations and arguing the evening away over whether the tree lights are evenly distributed, ornaments hung properly and which nativity set we will feature this season.

Another reason for the tree creep at our home is that we also evolved away from live (cedar only please) trees to the more "durable" (as in thousand year half-life plastic) artificial variety.

This year our Christmas tradition has been reinvigorated by two of our grandchildren who are in residence while their dad is overseas with his Army unit. With joyous enthusiasm they made quick work of the tree decorations and soon were lobbying for additional trips to the attic for garlands, nativities and the somewhat squashed silk poinsettia table decorations.

But whether your preference is for live or artificial, early or last-minute, tree traditions define Christmas for many families. So, as I sit in the glow of our tree I wish you a Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

Tell us about your holiday decorating traditions.