When Do You Put Your Tree Up???

Here is a question for you - when do you put your tree up? Some put it up right after Thanksgiving, but not everybody -

When we lived in Germany, it went up on the 24th! The kids would go out to play or to visit a relative and the tree was put up while they were gone! They were told the Christ Child had put it up and brought the gifts. That evening -yes, the 24th - the gifts would be opened!

I changed the rules a little as they got older and put the tree up right after St Nicholas Day on the 6th of December. Before the kids were born, we used real candles on the real tree. We also kept a bucket of water in the corner, just in case, and never walked out of the room without blowing the candles out!

After we moved to the States I continued to use the ornaments we had made from straw, wood and ribbon, but used strings of clear lights rather than candles. We used to open half of the gifts on the 24th in the evening, as was done in Germany, and the other half of the gifts on the morning of the 25th.

This tradition we have continued with, honoring both their German and American heritage!

So when do you put your tree up?????