When are you putting your Christmas tree up?

[amadeus]

Everything has been so rotten this year. I might put mine up on November 1st. They can’t take that away from me.

How about the rest of y’all?

 

[MaryKB]

I get a real tree, so I can't put it up too early. Normally on the first Saturday of December we go and get one.

I have, however, started listening to Christmas music.

 

[Darsnan]

My wife and I are on the other side of the country right now, so once her assignment is over in late November we'll be heading back east and will set up the tree (and other Christmas decorations) right after Thanksgiving, which is the traditional time for our family. But if my wife gets extended then we probably won't head back east till mid-December, and in that case we're delegating the decorating to our daughter who will be home from college by that time.

D

 

[amadeus]

I get a real tree, so I can't put it up too early.

I don’t remember the last time I saw a real tree. I got my plastic one some years back and just keep it in storage. It’s not a big tree, only about 5’ (150cm for you metric folks) but given the space limitations here, it fits in well enough. Given that everything else here is smaller, having a small tree doesn’t stand out at all!

 

[AmazonQueen]

Won't put it up until mid-December although since we'll probably be going away for Christmas doesn't seem much point to putting it up at all.

 

[elmurcis]

Most likely at Winter solstice day (21st/22nd December I think - yup, I'm late to the party but I want to keep it green up to mid-January). I just go out to my forest, walk around (some snow would be great but it is rare feature for last ten+ years before New Year..), look at some animals traces etc. And choose one that is beauty (180-200cm most likely) but same time at too dense place. Usually I find some 3-4 candidates before walking 2nd loop for final "voting" and taking one home.

 

[Ajidica]

None at my place, but will probably do it at my parents (they are part of my social bubble) around Thanksgiving.
Since my sister won't be joining us, not sure if we will put up the big tree or the small one.

 

[The_J]

My dad will put it up a few days before Christmas, or maybe on the 24th, not sure.

 

[shadowplay]

Probably get a smallish 4' tree around the second week of December.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I have several plastic ones, ranging from 12 inches to 4 feet. I have no idea if I'll bother putting any of them up. I made a snowflake out of a candy wrapper a couple of weeks ago (red and silver).

 

[Zkribbler]

Maybe as early as tomorrow.

Yesterday, I was in Tag, among other things, looking to see if replacement Christmas tree lights were in. My plan was to replace my gold lights & ornaments with multi-colored. I found them.

Lights are $10 per box. My 4-meter-tall tree needs 10 boxes. That's $100. The cost of replacing all the ornaments would probably double that. $200. Y'know, I really like gold.

So I have all the materials. We'll import Monica from Mabini to help out, and she can probably come Saturday [tomorrow].

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I stopped putting lights on the tree decades ago. They were too much of a fire hazard.

 

[Zkribbler]

I stopped putting lights on the tree decades ago. They were too much of a fire hazard.

LED lights are not hot to the touch, but they are costly. If you wish to buy them, you'd probably have to hock your cat.

 

[Zelig]

I haven’t taken my Christmas tree down in a couple years.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

LED lights are not hot to the touch, but they are costly. If you wish to buy them, you'd probably have to hock your cat.

Nobody would buy a 13-year-old black house cat, no matter how cute and mischievous she still is (most people don't believe me when I tell them how old she is).

I prefer to just use light-reflecting ornaments in strategic places. Btw, I do NOT recommend tinsel (long, thin strips of silver/gold stringy stuff). Cats are attracted to that, and there have been tragic incidents of them choking to death on it.

Ditto on angel hair and sprayed-on "snow". Decorating a tree means making it kitten-safe, as in not having anything on it that would kill a cat if they try to eat it. This is one reason why you should never leave a lit tree untended (obvious reason is fire). Another reason is if a cat decides to play with the lights or climb the tree, (s)he could get a shock from chewing the wires or strangled.

I'm not being paranoid, btw. I'm drawing from reading other people's accounts and personal experience in some of the ways a cat can ruin a tree or be in danger. Dangly decorations should not be put on the lower branches (I suppose you could if it's something that won't kill the cat if they decide to snack on it, or you don't mind if it breaks if the cat swats it off the tree and across the room; for that reason, glass ornaments within the cat's immediate reach aren't a great idea).

 

[Synobun]

Never. I wouldn't have the room for one.

Should I ever be in a position where I can get one, I'd probably put it up the second week of November, if only because it'd likely be another week or two after that for me to actually decorate it.

 

[Zkribbler]

Agreed on tinsel. It's too dangerous for cats. Filipino ornaments bounce.

 

[Kyriakos]

I use this as a christmas tree:

 

[Zardnaar]

We cancelled Christmas.

 

[Lohrenswald]

22. December