Who Keeps Their Christmas Tree up the Longest?

I had a friend who used to be so particular about putting her Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving and taking it down on New Year’s Day, except one year when she left it up until February. Of course, I can’t say much because I left my un-decorated tree in the corner of my living room from December of last year until October of this year.

Can anyone top that?

When do you put your tree up? When do you take it down? According to Catholicism About, “Catholics and most other Christians did not put up their Christmas trees until after noon on Christmas Eve. The same was true of all Christmas decorations. The purpose of the tree and the decorations is to celebrate the feast of Christmas, which begins with the celebration of Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.”

I have often waited, or procrastinated, to put my tree up all the way up to Christmas Eve. I guess my neighbors could have thought I was Catholic.

Ever wonder how Christmas trees got started? According to History.com, “Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce.”

The candle tradition continued until a hospital in Chicago burned down in 1885 because of candles on a Christmas tree. According to Why Christmas, 10 years later Ralph Morris, an American telephonist, invented the first electric Christmas lights, similar to the ones we use today.