When to Set Up Christmas Decorations

Zenit News Agency ^ | November 29, 2005

[NYer]

Readers may send questions to news@zenit.org. Please put the word "Liturgy" in the subject field. The text should include your initials, your city and your state, province or country.

[TXBSAFH]

Mine are already up. It is a southern tradition that we put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving.

[magisterium]

We're trying something new this year. We have the tree up with only purple lights and no ornaments for Advent. Beginning December 17, right after we start up the "O Antiphons," we will add a few purple and rose ornaments each day. On December 23, we will add the rest of the lights and ornaments, and complete the tree. If all goes well, we will leave the tree up till Candlemas, Febraury 2.

This is mostly a concession to me by my wife. One of the things I have always insisted on was getting the tree up ASAP at the beginning of December, and leaving it up till Ephphany. The last couple of years, though, we've been trying to do a lot more for Advent, in the spirit of Advent. The full-blown tree wasn't cutting it. I *really* needed "my" tree, though, even more than my 11-year-old daughter. So we hit on the idea of an "Advent tree." Works for me! Keeps the spirit of the season, AND I get to keep it up longer, all the way to Candlemas!

I think this will be the start of a new tradition around here... ;-D

[GatorGirl]

I would be interested in knowing what other Catholic Freepers do with regard to this issue.

I usually decorate the weekend before the First Sunday of Advent and I do not take anything down until after Epiphany. I just love the way the house looks all decorated for Christmas, especially because I collect Nativity scenes. Other than my tree and our stockings, pretty much all my secular decorations throughout the house have been replaced by Nativities and lighted greenery.

We also celebrate St. Nicholas' day on December 6. The kids leave out their shoes and some candy and a couple of small gifts appear in the shoes.

[GatorGirl]

That is a wonderful idea. I might do that next year. I'm also trying to incorporate the "Jesus only got three gifts, so should we" idea, but it hasn't caught on around here yet.

[fortunecookie]

If all goes well, we will leave the tree up till Candlemas, Febraury 2.

Last year, my tree, put up late, stayed up almost until Candelmas, despite protests of others. But it was a mere coincidence, I like you idea better. Here where I am, most people put up the tree shortly after Thanksgiving, usually the weekend after. And take it down before New Year's so they don't have to be bothered on New Years day. This is a new phenomenon as most did keep the tree and decorations up at least until New Years. I found this odd, as it's a town with a large Catholic population so I thought they would keep the season through the Epiphany. I have always kept mine up through the Epiphany to stress the idea of Christmas season, but I like the Candelmas idea even better!

[Hermann the Cherusker]

In my house, Advent wreaths come out on the First Sunday of Advent for the front door and the Dining Room table, with candles.

The tree goes up December 17 and stays until January 13.

[Syberyenta]

The wreath went up day after Thanksgiving

The cat prevents us from having a tree.

[Salvation]

I always leave my tree up through the Eiphany, the visit of the Three Kings to the Child King, Jesus Christ.

I like your idea about the purple lights and sparse ornaments of the O Antiphons.

[Salvation]

Oops.

Eiphany
Epiphany

[Salvation]

How about everyone doing a Jesse Tree?

Catholic Caucus: Advent Activity - The Jesse Tree

[Desdemona]

Gaudate Sunday is the general rule in my family. Well, the weekend anyway. We'll have to get the tree this weekend, though. It'll sit in water in the backyard for a week, but it's the only weekend without commitments. It comes down around Epiphany depending on how hard certain people in the house push for it.

[mike182d]

After much research and prayer last year, my bride and I were thoroughly convinced. Advent is the "lent" before Christmas and it would be just as confusing to sing Christmas songs and display Christmas decorations during Advent as it would to sing Easter resurrection songs and display Easter decorations during Lent. Because of the secularization of the Christmas holidays, Advent has become forgotten entirely.

While not as solemn as Lent, Advent has an important part in the life of the Church. In addition to just the Advent wreath in our home, we decorate the living room with pine needle garland and purple ribbon. We do have a Christmas tree, but we leave the lights off and don't put the decorations up until Christmas Eve/morning. In the interim, we merely hang more purple ribbon on the tree in longing expectation (the true meaning of Advent).

As far as Santa Claus, he is absolute garbage. From nisbet.com:

"Thor was the god of the peasants and the common people. He was represented as an elderly man, jovial and friendly, of heavy build, with a long white beard. His element was the fire, his colour red. The rumble and roar of thunder were said to be caused by the rolling of his chariot, for he alone among the gods never rode on horseback but drove in a chariot drawn by two white goats (called Cracker and Gnasher). He was fighting the giants of ice and snow, and thus became the Yule-god. He was said to live in the "Northland" where he had his palace among icebergs. By our pagan forefathers he was considered as the cheerful and friendly god, never harming the humans but rather helping and protecting them. The fireplace in every home was especially sacred to him, and he was said to come down through the chimney into his element, the fire. 70 [Note 70: H. A. Grueber, Myths of Northern Lands, Vol. I, New York, 1895, 61ff.]"

Santa Claus has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas and is a terrible abomination. You can celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas, but St. Nicholas has nothing to do with this contemporary mythylogical figure. The great Saint from the Council of Nicea never went down chimneys, never rode in a carriage drawn by reindeer, never rewarded people for being good or punished them for being bad, etc.

He did, however, punch Arius in the face, warranting expulsion from the Council of Nicea in the mid-4th Century...

[NYer]

Wow!! I'm very impressed with the great emphasis you all place on Advent, which was not celebrated by my family when I was a child. I was the first to introduce the Advent wreath when my daughter was young.

The Christmas tradition handed down in our family is, well, "traditional". We pick a free weekend mid December and ALWAYS purchase a real tree. It is decorated with colored lights and ornaments; some dating back to my childhood. For many years, I collected old world and unusual Santas. (Sorry, Mike, I like the "jolly old man"). These are strategically placed throughout the house.

My Christmas treasure, however, is a Precious Moments Nativity, acquired the year my daughter was born. Several years ago, I was truly fortunate to find a Nativity hand made by women in Peru. The baby Jesus is wearing one of those hand knit caps on His head.

[mike182d]

Sorry, Mike, I like the "jolly old man"

lol, you pagan. :-)

[SoothingDave]

In the north, we do the outside lights whenever we get a warm weekend around Thanksgiving. :-)

We have an Advent wreath, but haven't used it in past years with a toddler in the house, cause it's too chaotic. I know it's a little late, but I might try it this year.

The tree will probably go up this weekend.

SD

[jrny]

Magisterium,
I like your new custom of an "Advent" tree. It kinda parallels our custom of gradually adding to the Nativity Scene during Advent through to Epiphany. Do you have a real or fake tree? I ask because keeping a real tree up to Feb. 2nd. seems like a bold initiative.

[Tax-chick]

Good suggestion about decorating the tree in conjuction with the Novena of the "O Antiphons." I'll suggest that to Der Prinz. We try to put up our tree as late as possible, partly because (expletives deleted) it's not Christmas yet, and partly because it gives the toddlers (and until this year, the cat) less time for destruction. However, by the last week before Christmas, it can be hard to find a tree at all, so some flexibility is in order. We leave it up until Epiphany, unless it's dangerously dry or I'm ready to stomp the people who won't leave the ornaments alone.

We clear away all our usual decor and clutter after Thanksgiving, and put up the Advent wreath, the Advent calendar, and a few purple or blue candles. That's it until the last few days before Christmas. Well, we have poinsettias, too, because our daughter's Girl Scout troop sells them :-). We avoid Christmas music as long as possible, too.

[NYer]

We avoid Christmas music as long as possible, too.

Now that's a challenge! They began playing Christmas music here, the day after Halloween.