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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
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...