Your Christmas Tree, will you have one this year?

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Edwin1961:
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Ana:
Was that option about worshiping the tree a joke? I mean people don’t actually worship the tree … do they?/QUOTE]

That option was meant for those who are offended about having a Christmas tree in the home. I have known some people who refuse to have a tree in their home because it detracts from Christ’s birth. Edwin
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I’m on a discussion board w/ Protestants who do not believe in having Christmas trees. It takes away from the ‘real’ meaning of Christmas and if you kneel down in front of it to put gifts underneath, you’re really close to worshipping a tree!! I love the smell of a live tree, especially when I’m kneeling in front of it (to place my gifts, of course!)
—KCT
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ugh! Christmas tree time again. I am not really a bah humbug kind of person, but I much prefer my advent wreath and nativity scene to putting up a tree. As a single mom, I just find it difficult to put up alone, and decorate, take down, etc. The boys are into seeing the tree but have no interest in helping decorate.

Before I had children, I did not do the tree thing. Now I do because of them - but will most likely stop when they leave my house.

I do admire those who have the energy and enjoy the whole tree thing.
 
I don’t care where the custom came from…I like it. I consider it the feast that celebrates the birth of Jesus. the tree is a festive part of that & so I like it too. Also I learned in college that the shorter days are part of the reason there is so much depression during the holidays so I use the lights to brighten the whole world & hopefully everyone just feels better because of it. The shrinks said that keeping our areas well lit helps reduce that depression. I decorate the outside too…in order to spread the light.
 
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KCT:
I’m on a discussion board w/ Protestants who do not believe in having Christmas trees. It takes away from the ‘real’ meaning of Christmas and if you kneel down in front of it to put gifts underneath, you’re really close to worshipping a tree!! I love the smell of a live tree, especially when I’m kneeling in front of it (to place my gifts, of course!)
—KCT
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Makes me think of my pentacostal friend. She never celebrated Christmas. She was a real scrooge type and spent the season griping about the christmas trimmings and of course Jesus’ birthday was not on the 25th and so on. I always felt sorry for her. I would rather have a tree and feel joyful than spend a whole season being cranky and complaining.

Anyways … she recently married and her husband persuaded her to put up a tree. She was resistant at first, but it has been fun seeing her get slowly excited. I am praying that the Lord will bless her with an abundance of joy this season.
 
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KCT:
I’m on a discussion board w/ Protestants who do not believe in having Christmas trees. It takes away from the ‘real’ meaning of Christmas and if you kneel down in front of it to put gifts underneath, you’re really close to worshipping a tree!! I love the smell of a live tree, especially when I’m kneeling in front of it (to place my gifts, of course!)
—KCT
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Leaves me wondering how they put boots on and off their children.
😃
 
Yep! It’s artificial, and we’ll be putting it up sometime…and decorating it…along with our Nativity Set…😃 😃
 
We always have a real tree but we don’t put it up or decorate until Christmas Eve. We decided a few years ago to follow the Church and decorate in preparation for Christmas Eve and leave up the decorations till at least Epiphany. In fact most of my family has followed suit and our Christmas party is not until Jan. 1 or Epiphany. We discovered that celebrating Christmas as the Church does makes for a more relaxing and religious Christmas.
 
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IrenkaJMJ:
We always have a real tree but we don’t put it up or decorate until Christmas Eve. We decided a few years ago to follow the Church and decorate in preparation for Christmas Eve and leave up the decorations till at least Epiphany. In fact most of my family has followed suit and our Christmas party is not until Jan. 1 or Epiphany. We discovered that celebrating Christmas as the Church does makes for a more relaxing and religious Christmas.
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In the Eastern Catholic Churches, we are encouraged to have our Christmas parties AFTER Christmas Eve. Most of society celebrated before Christmas and then pack things up and stuff them away for another year, THE NEXT DAY!

When you celebrate anything, doesn’t it make sense to celebrate at the moment or just after the moment?

(As a side not, in the Eastern Catholic Church, we are in the middle of a 40-day fast). But that is for another threat not this one.

Go with God!
Edwin
 
no, we will just have many nativity sets, like about 20 of them.
 
T.A.Stobie:
no, we will just have many nativity sets, like about 20 of them.
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I’m sure that will be a neat thing to see…
Different styles of sets, made out of various materials, sizes, shapes, colors.

I bet there are life-sized displays too.
No, you have a reat treasured experience there!

Go with God!
Edwin
 
While flipping through the channels (I know you don’t watch TV Edwin) I came across a Christmas decorating show…

apparently the trend this year (I have no idea where) is to have an upside down Christmas tree. I assume it would have to be hung from the ceiling.

I know it sounds strange, but it actually looked very good. With the tree actually tapering towards the bottom it allowed each ornament to hang freely…

Of course my tree is sitting happily on it’s base… but for those who are more adventurous let me know how an upside down tree works out for you;)

As for my own tree, we have a 3 foot artificial on a tabletop. We used to put up a beautiful 7 foot artificial but my cat just wouldn’t leave it alone. She bent all of the bottom branches trying to climb it, lol.
It is easier to block her from the tabletop.

We also have artificial pine garland with lights. I just love the glow of Christmas lights.

Malia
 
Feanaro's Wife:
While flipping through the channels (I know you don’t watch TV Edwin) I came across a Christmas decorating show…

apparently the trend this year (I have no idea where) is to have an upside down Christmas tree. I assume it would have to be hung from the ceiling.

I know it sounds strange, but it actually looked very good. With the tree actually tapering towards the bottom it allowed each ornament to hang freely…

Of course my tree is sitting happily on it’s base… but for those who are more adventurous let me know how an upside down tree works out for you;)

As for my own tree, we have a 3 foot artificial on a tabletop. We used to put up a beautiful 7 foot artificial but my cat just wouldn’t leave it alone. She bent all of the bottom branches trying to climb it, lol.
It is easier to block her from the tabletop.

We also have artificial pine garland with lights. I just love the glow of Christmas lights.

Malia
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Now an Upsidedown Christmas tree has to be pretty funny. It reminds me of the Looney Tunes cartoon called ‘Mouse Wreckers’. In the cartoon, two mice make life miserable for the cat and the final stunt by the mice nail all the furniture (the entire room) to the ceiling! A pretty funny cartoon, so I can just imagine the orinments hanging down (or is it up). :eek:
 
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KCT:
I’m on a discussion board w/ Protestants who do not believe in having Christmas trees. It takes away from the ‘real’ meaning of Christmas and if you kneel down in front of it to put gifts underneath, you’re really close to worshipping a tree!! I love the smell of a live tree, especially when I’m kneeling in front of it (to place my gifts, of course!)
—KCT
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So I guess our family custom of splitting doves and sprinkling the tree with their blood is out of the question then?

Some of the stuff people concoct.
 
Right now we just have 2 advent wreaths (DS made one in church last Saturday and I have our regular one.
Also we have the nativity calendar where DS puts in a character (angels, animals, star, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, kings,…) on the manger scene daily from Dec 1 and on Dec 25 he puts in Baby Jesus. IT is made of cloth and had velcro and felt, characters have a bit of foam.
Will probably bring up our nativity scenes ( outdoor, DS’s and the indoor one) over the next couple weeks. Almost forgot the fish bone set that we got in Mexico on our honeymoon.
The artificial tree and decorations will be put up after Dec 15.
 
my husband and I put up a small (4 ft tall) artificial tree yesterday. It looks great! I plan on leaving it up til Epiphany. My mom was one of those folks who takes all the decorations down on December 26 and I was never fond of that custom. The tree is the only decoration we’ll have this year, since our apartment is very small and would get overly cluttered by wreaths, garlands, candles, etc.
 
May have to hang it from the ceiling if we have one. We have a year old Great grandaughter and a wild Brittany puppy. I have visions of a tree in shambles unless I can build a fence around it. 😃
 
Although we always put up a tree real or artifical, we place the nativity under it. I’d be VERY happy to have a wreath and the Nativity or a SMALL “tree” and the nativity set in the forefront. We all have seen how the season is focused elswhere in our culture and not on the birth of Christ. I suppose that is why I prefer Easter as a Holiday over Chrsitmas. Since it hasn’t been sucked into the secular world as much.
 
I would love to put my 4 ft artificial tree up this year but since we’ve been graced with 2 kittens, found in the wheel well of our truck 3 weeks ago, I will not. I will be settling for a Christmas scene atop my 6 ft entertainment unit. Far out of kitten reach!
 
To all those tree-haters 😉 - A Christmas tree has a Christian spiritual context and you can argue the value of that if you want to. But one of the more compelling reasons for me to choose the tree is because of the American family tradition of it. Tradition (as any good Catholic should know) is a binding and strengthening fabric to morality and stability. So - embrace the tree!

We choose a LIVE tree every year, decorate it outside our front window and bring it in on Christmas eve to enjoy the sight and aroma. Then when Christmas is over - we plant it in the meadow with the “other” Christmas trees next to our house.
During advent, we keep the wreath in the dining room, and we place candles in the windows each night. These are to symbolize the welcoming of the Holy Family into your home…as Joseph and Mary seek shelter for Christmas eve.
We also keep a beautiful Nativity scene, complete with a statue of St Francis, the man who first ‘created’ the idea of the Christmas cretch.
Christmas traditions need to be preserved and cherished - especially the catholic ones. They are very good evangelistic tools. 🙂
 
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