Tree up til Candlemas?

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Eliza10

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I was glad to discover this article today:catholic.com/blog/christopher-check/catholics-keep-your-trees-up

Yes, great idea!

Most of my life I did what the world does (even though I was Christian) and decorated my house completely and did all my baking as soon as possible after Thanksgiving! It was my habit and I loved it that way. After I became Catholic people (that I trusted) would explain that it is really better to have a real Advent, and put off some of the celebrating and decorating till Christmas has arrived (or just before). It was a hard change for me to make, though. The world celebrating Christmas, and me not. All the lights and decorations in the stores and then to think of going home to my un-decorated house. And church was so plain for Advent, too - it took some getting used to.

However, I began to realize that my old habit meant that soon after Christmas I was weary of Christmas and couldn’t wait to put it away. But I did endeavor to put my tree up later and later. And I am finding I like it that way. The stores aren’t decorated much anymore, anyway! And I like my home to be more like at Church. Its better! Putting of the wonderful decorating really does make Christmas Day more special; the decorating is more “new” vs. “tired”. So I am liking it! However, I don’t like taking it down so fast. This year I feel that the 12th day has come too fast! And, I did have a longer Christmas the old way - for me it ran Thanksgiving Friday to New Year’s. So *no wonder *it seems to short to me! I am still thinking about the wonder of the birth of Christ, and the wonder of the Feast of the Epiphany. I just don’t feel ready for it to be over!

Next year I want a more plain Advent, and I’d like to delay decorating the tree until *just *before. That can only be sanely done if I plan ahead and everything else done at that time (like presents wrapped). I am going to focus on better planning for a more sanely-paced advent…

Does anyone else have a “plain” Advent, more like a “Little Lent”, decorating at the last minute? And do you delay taking it all down til Candlemas?
 
During the last couple of years, I have been trying to keep our celebration of Christmas separate from Advent. I too grew up decorating the tree the day after Thanksgiving, but especially once I became a parent I wanted to do things differently to pass on a clearer understanding of the faith to my sons. This year, we didn’t purchase our tree until the 4th Sunday of Advent and even though we decorated it that same day, we didn’t turn on the lights again until after the Christmas Vigil Mass. I don’t think the tree will last until Candlemas, but we are keeping it up at least through this Sunday, the Baptism of the Lord.

We did have a banner with felt pieces for the Jesse tree and an Advent tree-- a small artificial tree with white lights and a purple bow, to which we added the ornaments from amazon.com/The-Story-Christmas-Mary-Packard/dp/0761152504, which functions as an Advent calendar. Instead of listening to Christmas CDs, we listed to Advent CDs instead. It does seem to help keep the seasons separate–my 4-year old was asking us why people were already decorating for Christmas when it was still Advent!
 
We have a very plain Advent – Advent wreath on the kitchen table, and that’s it.

We decorate the house (and the living room and kitchen are highly decorated!) on Dec. 23rd or 24th. The planning that makes this possible is that we have the Christmas decorations organized in boxes and put away “just so” in order for us to take things out and have them almost immediately ready to hang/place.

We celebrate the Christmas season by observing the Church calendar and having get-togethers with friends. We’ve had sing-along parties and wine-blessing parties during the octave of Christmas a few times. It’s a lot easier to keep to the Church calendar if you join in with others who are like-minded 👍

Everything stays up until Baptism of the Lord. Occasionally – like last year when my son and I had the flu – the decorations stayed up a week longer than usual.

I highly recommend keeping Advent and Christmas separate. It just makes Christmas so much more special.

Gertie
 
No specific date. Tree stays up until the Spousal Unit takes it down.
 
Oh yes. Up a few days before Christmas and some things stay up until February which is the end of the Christmas season! It makes sense to have the beauty and honor of the Nativity through bleak January.
 
Our tree stays up until at least Epiphany every year. I plan to take our tree down this weekend. Some of our other Christmas decorations stay up longer.

We don’t have a plain Advent. I put our tree up early. One idea I had but have never done is to put up some purple ornaments and then switch them to red on Christmas Eve. That’s not exactly plain, I know, but it would distinguish Advent from Christmas.
 
Our tree goes up pretty soon after Thanksgiving. And we also start decorating at that time. My baking doesn’t start until closer to Christmas. We try to get presents, bought and wrapped before or during Advent.

We don’t take down the tree until after Epiphany. So the plan is to take it down this weekend.

My problem with not having the decorations up before Christmas is that I don’t want to spend Christmas Eve putting up everything. Heck it takes days to get everything out and up. If we did that, Christmas would be awful. We would be too tired to move.

In addition, we would not have the decorations up for very long, because we take them down at Epiphany.

Leave them up until Candlemas? Even our parish is taking the decorations down on Monday.
 
Great to hear that some of our neighbours across the Atlantic are doing this also!

The tree at our local church is still up and lit and will remain that way until the first of Feb. At home my tree is also still standing. I love the Christmas season and the decorations and want to keep them up as long as legally possible.

However looks like only a few Catholic churches are following this. The trees at city centre churches went down this Tuesday.

My decorations were very last minute this year, only finished just before leaving for midnight mass. However this was not totally intentional. I would normally have them up between 20th and 23rd.

Happy Candlemas in advance and God Bless.
 
Honestly, as a pragmatic matter, cut/“real” Christmas trees won’t generally last much past Epiphany - they get too dry. This is why, pragmatically, such trees are usually put up later, anyway - they last maybe - MAYBE - three weeks. Today, I don’t decorate for Christmas because I’m not at my place for Christmas; however, when I was growing up, my family usually didn’t put up our tree until at least the 3rd week of Advent, if not later. Often, the tree wouldn’t go up until December 23rd or 24th, due to the 22nd or 23rd being the last day of school before Christmas most years (and on at least 1 occasion, we had to go to school on Christmas Eve day). We would choose our tree on Thanksgiving (my grandfather ran a Christmas tree farm on his property - it’s still there, but he’s too old and frail to take care of it anymore), but we wouldn’t cut it until much later. Even then, though, by New Year’s, it was starting to dry up and lose needles left and right. Add to the fact that we were back in school no later than January 3rd most years (often returning on January 2nd!), we generally were forced to take the tree down.
 
I like to keep the tree up until the Baptism of The Lord. I would keep it up till Candlemas if my wife allowed me.

We don’t have lights on the outside of our house, but if we did, I would keep them up until Candlemas, while taking the tree down on the Baptism of The Lord.
 
I can’t imagine not doing anything until just a few days before christmas. maybe I’m just slower and/or more prone to screwing up… but how I see it is like this: when I know guests are coming over, I don’t wait until the last minute to clean or make sure there’s something to make for dinner. why would I wait until the last minute for someone infinitely more important? and pratically speaking, stores are sold out of stuff and full of crazy shoppers. also, who’s still selling trees? anything left at that point is gonna be all charlie-brownish :eek: (in my world, fake trees do not count as trees. if you use a fake tree, you are delusional.) do people really not do any baking or card-writing until just a few days before? how does that not lead to anything but ridiculous amounts of stress? and if you need to rely on other people to help decorate, you’re also constrained by their schedules.

I recently read this really great article over at catholic icing, where advent is compared to actually preparing for a baby. she makes some really great analogies.

my personal cutoff is dec 1. no christmas anything before then, which usually means the radio stays off inbetween thanksgiving and the 1st 😛 then once it’s actually december, everything goes up as close to the 1st as possible, and stays up until (actual) epiphany. outdoor stuff comes down asap after that, indoor stuff may take a big longer. the nativity scene stays up until candlemas.

I wouldn’t expect a tree to last until candlemas unless it was freshly cut only a few days before christmas. I don’t think something sitting on the lot for half of dec would make it. fresh, watered trees can easily last a month. what I don’t get is how people can pitch their trees so early. everyone knows there are 12 days of christmas. where are you gonna put those lords a leapin if your tree is gone?? 😃
 
Yes, keep separate Advent and celebrate Christmas until February 2.

Simeon’s statements at the Feb. 2 end of the Christmas season from Luke 2 (which are said as part of Compline) have more meaning when I include the entire time to that day in a “long” Christmas season (It helps me see the coming Lent and Easter):
Simeon:
“Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace;
Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”
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“And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”
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Barzillai said:
Yes, keep separate Advent and celebrate Christmas until February 2.

Simeon’s statements at the Feb. 2 end of the Christmas season from Luke 2 (which are said as part of Compline) have more meaning when I include the entire time to that day in a “long” Christmas season (It helps me see the coming Lent and Easter):
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How, exactly, do you do it? 🤷

Does your tree drop needles like crazy? I know ours is starting to loose a bunch. I can’t imagine it 3 weeks from now.

When do you decorate? For example, this year, Christmas will be on Friday, when would your decorations go up? Do you use a lot of decorations? How long does it take you to decorate?

How do you continue the celebrations? With us, people are back to work, son is in college and even the parish will have taken down the decorations.
 
How, exactly, do you do it?
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We completely decorate our home during the first week of Advent with all the typical “Christmas” decorations. We have a fake tree. We use Advent candles. Jesus is not in the Nativity scene. He journeys through the house during Advent. We read and study about Advent. We try to keep Advent always on our minds. We try as best we can to follow the penitential practices of Advent and to follow the seasons liturgically using the older calendar for our personal lives and practices.
Does your tree drop needles like crazy? I know ours is starting to loose a bunch. I can’t imagine it 3 weeks from now.
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Our fake tree is liturgically up to the task!!
When do you decorate? For example, this year, Christmas will be on Friday, when would your decorations go up? Do you use a lot of decorations? How long does it take you to decorate?
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We have Christmas dinner at our house for the 20-member extended family and some of the children visit during Advent so we completely finish with the “Christmas” decorations during the first week of Advent or so. It takes two days over the span of a week to decorate. We use a lot of decorations. We try to have some decorations in every room. We do not do any extra decorations as Advent changes to Christmas. We like to mark the passing between Advent and Christmas (before vespers on Christmas Eve) in stillness.

The outside decorations are taken down after January 6.
How do you continue the celebrations? With us, people are back to work, son is in college and even the parish will have taken down the decorations.
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It is difficult when the world has moved on. We try to keep our home separate from the world and for our personal prayers we use the older liturgical calendar. But we just do the best we can. The older calendar for our personal use helps. Here is how Dom Prosper Guéranger, Abbot of Solesmes Abbey, explained how to let the Church guide our lives, he was writing in the 1870s:

From The Liturgical Year, by Dom Guéranger on the practices during the Christmas season:

"The time has now come for the faithful soul to reap the fruit of the efforts she made during the penitential weeks of Advent to prepare a dwelling-place for the Son of God, who desires to be born within her.

"The Nuptials of the Lamb are come, and his Spouse hath prepared herself.

"Now the Spouse is the Church; the Spouse is also every faithful soul. Our Lord gives his whole self to the whole flock, and to each sheep of the flock with as much love as though he loved but that one.

"What garments shall we put on, to go and meet the Bridegroom?

"Where shall we find the pearls and jewels wherewith to deck our soul for this happy meeting?

"Our holy Mother the Church will tell us all this in her Liturgy.

"Our best plan for spending Christmas is, undoubtedly, to keep close to her, and do what she does; for she is most dear to God, and being our Mother, we ought to obey all her injunctions.

"Now every soul that has been admitted to Bethlehem, that is to say, into the House of Bread, and has been united with him who is the Light of the World - that soul no longer walks in darkness.

"The mystery of Christmas is one of Illumination; and the grace it produces in the soul that corresponds with it, places her in the second stage of the mystic Life, which is called the Illuminative Life.

"Henceforward, then, we need no longer weary ourselves watching for our Saviour’s arrival; he has come, he has shone upon us, and we are resolved to keep up the light, nay, to cherish its growth within us, in proportion as the Liturgical Year unfolds its successive seasons of mysteries and graces.

“God grant that we may reflect in our souls the Church’s progressive development of this divine Light; and he led by its brightness to that Union which crowns both the year of the Church, and the faithful soul which has spent the year under the Church’s guidance!”

The Christmas season extending until February 2 is a good span of time to do what Dom Guéranger writes about. LOL, and it’s a lot of work to take down all the decorations, put them back in the boxes, and return all of them to the attic. We don’t want that week of disruption during one the great seasons of the year – Christmas is kept quiet, with a reflection of Christ’s illumination in the way the inside of the house is decorated. We don’t want to “put away” the visible reminders of this glorious season before it comes to completion in the beauty of the Presentation on February 2 and those words of Simeon:

“Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace;
Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”

“And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.” Luke 2.
 
That’s great that your family can do that.

But I don’t know that I could give up my live tree for a fake one. :o

My extended family includes only my sister and her family. They live about 1000 miles from us. So our family dinner includes us and friends that have no where else to go. But it works for us.

Like you, Jesus doesn’t make an appearance in the Nativity until after Mass on Christmas Eve. And the Wise Men don’t show up until Jan 6. And of course we have an Advent Wreath.

But generally the decorations come down the weekend after Jan 6. As I have said, our parish follows the same tradition.
 
maryjk said:
That’s great that your family can do that.

But I don’t know that I could give up my live tree for a fake one. :o

My extended family includes only my sister and her family. They live about 1000 miles from us. So our family dinner includes us and friends that have no where else to go. But it works for us.

Like you, Jesus doesn’t make an appearance in the Nativity until after Mass on Christmas Eve. And the Wise Men don’t show up until Jan 6. And of course we have an Advent Wreath.

But generally the decorations come down the weekend after Jan 6. As I have said, our parish follows the same tradition.
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Your Christmas sounds wonderful. I love the live trees, it is good that you keep that tradition.

Giving friends a welcoming home at Christmas shows the heart and blessing of the Christmas spirit. 🙂
 
OP, you’re the first person I’ve know who shares my desire not to tire of the decorations by Christmas. I know people who begin de-Christmassing the house the evening of Christmas Day because they were sick of looking at the decorations. I think that’s sad.

I do begin putting out my Christmas village in early December because it takes a full two days to build it. We cut down our tree the first Sunday in December because we like to have a good selection, but it decorates the garage until the weekend before Christmas. DH was a police officer and saw more than one horrendous fire caused by a dry Christmas tree, so he’s a fanatic about keeping it hydrated and it comes down as soon as practicable after the Epiphany.
 
ok, so what exactly ARE advent decorations? besides an advent wreath, or the nativity minus baby jesus? if you put those up, and don’t change them for christmas, how are they not christmas decorations? :confused:
 
I put my tree up the 3rd Sunday of Advent. I try and leave it up until Epiphany. This year though, it lost it’s decor sometime between 1/1 and 1/6, it was wilting and dropping ornaments. We get a real tree. It wasn’t holding up well. So the tree was up through Epiphany, strangely naked and wilty though.
 
insideitall said:
ok, so what exactly ARE advent decorations? besides an advent wreath, or the nativity minus baby jesus? if you put those up, and don’t change them for christmas, how are they not christmas decorations? :confused:
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I guess that depends on the family.

For us, we have varied our Advent decor from year to year. The Advent wreath sits on the kitchen table – a green wreath with the purple and pink candles. At Christmas, we remove the purple and pink candles, and replace them with white candles. We also add some gold and red decorations to the wreath.

One year, we had a little Jesse tree, the ornaments being provided by my son’s classwork at school.

One year we put up some green garland on the beam between our kitchen and living room. As we made little sacrifices or said extra prayers, we added decorations to the garland throughout Advent. By Christmas, it was beautifully decorated and we finally plugged it in (it had lights in it).

We have considered putting up our artificial Christmas tree without ornaments the first Sunday of Advent and adding ornaments throughout the season – but so far that has never happened.

Just my two cents’…

Gertie
 
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