Don’t get me wrong … I love, love, love Christmas.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As mentioned in this very column a few weeks ago, I only have two more presents to buy and my yuletide gift giving is done and dusted for 2017.
However, I draw the line at putting up the Christmas tree and decorating my house with enough Christmas paraphernalia to choke a reindeer before December 1.
It’s bad luck people … bad luck, I say … to erect your Christmas tree before December 1.
However, my social media pages are being inundated with people who dare to thumb their noses at the “rules” and scoff at the bad luck fairies by putting up their trees in mid-November.
In our house (like my childhood home, like my mum’s childhood home and those before her … you get the drift), Christmas trees were erected on December 1. Not a day before, not a day after.
If my mum told me it was bad luck to do otherwise, then it must be true. Well, there’s more truth to that than you think. According to experts, your Christmas traditions are guided by what has been handed down in your family. Like many others, my family would never put up the Christmas tree until December 1.
For other families, their traditions may be different.
Also, when did you take down your Christmas tree? Many people leave it up until January 6, while others may want the joy of Christmas to remain in their household for a few more weeks.
Just like when I was a kid, my own children (who are in their 20s) have Christmas traditions they have enjoyed over the years. Like putting out a bowl of water and some carrots from the reindeers on Christmas Eve; leaving a snack for Santa (usually a biscuit and some beer – although I’ve heard the Big Guy is on a diet); leaving Christmas stockings and Santa sacks out the night before the Big Day; sitting on the couch as a family on Christmas Eve to watch Carols by Candlelight on the TV.
The thing is, each family is different and each have their own traditions. Enjoy them.