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Sorry I cant find a better thread for this?
Can anyone tell me the basis behind it being bad luck to put it up before dec 1? Google hasnt helped much but I did find something about it being bad luck before 23 dec so if ive been doing it wrong all along whats it matter if I do it soon? Lol feeding my own obsession here I know.
We always put ours up on the 25th of November.
Ours goes up on the 1st of December. Mum always did it that way but we do it because it's DH's birthday at the end of Nov and he hates thinking about Christmas before his birthday is done lol!
We start putting things up now ish. Takes a month to do it all. Tree goes up dec 1 and lights start going on every night after that.
We are very Christmassy - so we start putting stuff up early to enjoy it (and to spread out the set up. It's a biiiiiiig job!)
i must be full of luck then, cos we have had a few christmas eve dashes to get a christmas tree. ;) i can't blame it all on the kids (it happened before they came along too), but the thought of trying to keep them away from the tree for 2 months is not pleasant.:
It's bad luck in our house to put up anything Christmas related until after 5th because that's my birthday and I don't like to share :lol:
I've got a friend who put her tree up last week
Holiday celebrations was a better thread, and that is where I have moved this too ;)
For a lot of people in SA, their tree goes up when Father Christmas arrives in the city. Which is the first Saturday in November. I used to do it then too, but by Christmas Day I was over looking at it, and it would be pulled down 2 days later. Last year I put it up later and it still came down 2 days after Christmas LOL. So we'll probably do the weekend that is closest to Dec 1.
I'm dying to put our tree up! I'd put it up now but I love listening to Christmas carols while we are putting it up and I'd feel weird about playing Christmas music just yet ;)
Didn't really answer your question. I've no idea why it's apparently bad luck. My Nan always said it was but I never thought to ask why and now I can't :wall: maybe I'll ask my mum tonight.
Same, but for me it's the 6th.:
DH likes to leave it as late as possible to put it up and have it down as early as possible after Christmas.
We usually put ours up on the 1st Dec and take it down the 1st Jan. This year, I might put it up a little earlier because we will be away on holidays in between those dates and I would like the kids to enjoy it!
I'm taking a guess here, but it probably stems from the old church traditions, where the season (ie 4 weeks) before christmas is technically advent and it's not christmas until the baby jesus is born & you've been to church and paid your tithes. OR Possibly it's some kind of response to the pagan Yule, held around the winter solstice (20/21st Dec). I imagine that early european church leaders would have frowned upon any kind of christmassy celebrations during the yule period - especially because most of the 'christmas traditions' are actually 100% old pagan customs LOL.
Or it might've been some kind of excuse that parents used to get the kids off their back or to save mum from an extra month of vaccuuming pine needles up off the floor :rofl:
Realistically though - in the past, christmas was much simpler and involved less expenditure and preparation. The Dec 1st thing sounds like a sane reaction to a commercial world gone crazy.
I have always put ours up in the first week of December. I love Christmas. But now I have a slight dilemma in that DD2 was born 8 days before Christmas and I am trying not to let Christmas overshadow her birthday.... This year the tree is going up Dec 15...the day after her party. Will tackle next year next year!
That gave me another idea - maybe it's because they didn't want the tree to go brown/dry before the big day?:
We always do December 1st too, simply because that's the way Mum did it :)
We always did 2-4 days before Christmas growing up because we got a real tree and it would only last a week max. Now that I'm grown up I thought it was anytime after December 1. And it was bad luck to leave it up after 'the twelve days of Christmas'.
DH and I were discussing this at breakfast this morning - he thought the twelve days of Christmas referred to the twelve days before Christmas and I thought it was the twelve days after.
Then there's Boxing Day - isn't that something to do with putting everything back in boxes for storage??
We always did Dec 1. We looking at a real tree this year so we will see
I don't know the history behind it all but we have always put it up on December 1st. Now that our youngest has a birthday on December 2nd we put it up after his party :)
Yes the 12 days of Christmas are the days including & after dec 25th. It finishes on Jan 6 which is the feast of the three kings & which is celebrated in various ways in a number of European countries.
Then there's Boxing Day - isn't that something to do with putting everything back in boxes for storage??[/QUOTE]
I was always told boxing day was called boxing day because that was the day the orphans (or was it just any children?) would carry small boxes and beg for coins in the street.
I've heard many "reasons" for Boxing Day. One is that servants have a day of essentially reversed roles with their employers (a very far fetched episode of MASH had the cooks being treated like officers, and the officers cooking etc). The one I've heard most is that it came from it being a day employers have their staff (servants etc) a box of Christmas "gifts". I'd not heard the orphans thing before
Boxing day is the day you allow your servants to have a rest and visit their families, and you give them a box with their bonus/gift/food etc, since they just spent the day before waiting hand and foot on you
SO, TECHNICALLY SPEAKING this is the day most mums should get to lie on the couch and do nothing (HA!) whilst being lavished with foot rubs, fed tiny morsels of wickedly good leftovers, and lots of fizzy pink drinks, while reading their christmas novel and playing with their presents. AND NOTHING ELSE.
Ummm we put ours up last week hahaha
We spend November making our decorations (paper chains etc) and dec 1 is put up day :)
I like the sound of that. Boxing Day is my birthday too so even more reason ;):
Unfortunately I dont get a day off for Boxing Day this year. My bro is FIFO and doesn't get home til late Christmas Day so the parents decided we would do family Christmas on Boxing Day. But they are also coming over Christmas Day so we are landed with pretty much everyone two days in a row.... Oh well...
We started decorating today. I have spent all arvo putting together Christmas village lego. It's an exhausting task! Two sets done. The biggest still to do! I have left the hardest til last too
I did do some cleaning to slow me to set up the lego sets and have somewhere to display them though. Not sure if they can stay where they are though. DD wants so badly to play with them but Christmas decos (aside from her tree) are a no touch situation. Hard to convince her that lego is not for playing though.
We put ours up whenever, don't believe in bad luck ;)
This year the tree has been up for a few weeks and last weekend and the one before we started on the lights outside.
It won't always be this early but we do it when we feel like it, use to always be the 1/12 but for us there's absolutely no reason to do it on that date, it's not like we celebrate a traditional Christmas anyway so we make it our own.
Also I love our tree and have spent a small fortune on it recreating something that reminds me of my grandmothers tree which holds lots of special memories so it's too beautiful to have packed up for 11 months of the year.
This year we're also getting a second tree which we're been baking ginger bread salt dough decorations for.
Life's too short to follow someone else's rules, do whatever you want and make your own memories and traditions....and most importantly have fun with it!
I agree with Toomanyshoes. No right or wrong. Growing up, my dads birthday was Nov 27th, 4 weeks to the day before Christmas and we used to decorate after that. My dd was born Dec 14th and I don't want her birthday overshadowed every year so in our family it's Dec 15th for decs to go up. Christmas music blaring and wine for the grown ups. :-)
Mine goes up on or around 15 June (depending on when winter solstice is) and stays up for 12 days. Same for summer solstice in December, up for 12 days with the solstice in the middle of that period.
We put ours up December 1 but my mother, who is Dutch, says they put their tree up closer to Christmas and opened gifts on Christmas Eve. The tree always came down by the end of the first week of the new year and that is a tradition we keep. My English friend says traditionally most people there put the tree up Christmas eve.
This year it will prob be going up on 16th November or there abouts cause the kids want to put it up asap. DD's birthday is the 14th and having a party after school, so I said they can have the tree up the following weekend (and DH is home that weekend to help with the tree lights cause I nearly fell when doing it last year).
Ours goes up 12th days before - 13th Dec and comes down 6th Jan. Just something my parents did around the 12 days of Christmas. But for practically it will go up as late as possible and down as early as possible to avoid it getting wrecked.
Ours go up the first weekend in December and usually come down on 12th night (but mums coming over mid Jan for DS1s 18th birthday so they're staying up a bit longer so she can see how OTT we go over christmas!!
I got my Dutch tradition mixed up, just for anyone interested. Mum said Saint Nicholas visited on December 6 which was present day.
Goes up on the Saturday before the first Sunday in advent or the last Sat in November. Usually the same date!
Reason: for Advent, we read a Bible verse then hang a star on the tree every day. Advent Sundays, we hang a big star on after Church.
Goes down before school starts in early Jan. Working full-time I can't leave it til Epiphany, much as I would like to.
2 trees too. One for my perfectionist nature, 1 in DS's room for his multicoloured/homemade fun. DS loves that he gets a tree in his room.
Same happens here - DD has her own tree that she can decorate as she pleases - and then mine stays looking like mine (well OURS - I can't reach some bits of it so DH is responsible for the upper bit - he gets guidance from me to make sure it looks right though...):
ETA - i may have spent the bulk of my Melb Cup day off designing this years Christmas Card... after starting the day finishing off the Christmas lego...
This year we'll have two trees as well - Kmart has trees a little shorter than DD for only $5, so I'm getting one of those for her to decorate. Hopefully it'll distract her sufficiently enough to keep her from destroying "my" tree :lol: I used to get annoyed that DH wasn't that interested in decorating the tree together, then I realised I prefer to do it alone. That way I can do it RIGHT :p
thanks ladies, ended up decorating the day i posted this and just put the tree up on saturday. bugger tradition.
BG i remember reading how many decorations you have i can imagine you need to start very soon, but i love that, id have as many as you if DH and storage room would allow it lol.
Boxing day is as marydean said the servents day off, since thats me im looking forward to it. Anglican says thats the day the church also gives boxes of goodies to the poor too.
now i can put all the presents under the tree and get me some storage space back woohoo
thanks ladies, ended up decorating the day i posted this and just put the tree up on saturday. bugger tradition.
BG i remember reading how many decorations you have i can imagine you need to start very soon, but i love that, id have as many as you if DH and storage room would allow it lol.
Boxing day is as marydean said the servents day off, since thats me im looking forward to it. Anglican says thats the day the church also gives boxes of goodies to the poor too.
now i can put all the presents under the tree and get me some storage space back woohoo