www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall When are you going to put up your Christmas Decorations?

The Missus and I always disagree on when we are going to put up the Christmas decorations and when we are going to take them down.

She wants to put them up right after Thanksgiving and take them down soon after Christmas. I think they should go up on 6 December at the earliest and not come down until after Theophany/Epiphany.

She said she wants to do it like everybody else, I said that St. Paul tells us not to conform to this age. She said "You just ruined my perfect day by arguing about this."

I apologized.

We agreed to compromise by putting the decorations up at the start of Latin Advent and taking them down at Latin Epiphany.

We will do special things for the rest of the Season. That will come on another thread...

Always do it the same day every year.
December 23 rd the Feast of St Thorlaukur.
Stephanos I

Father Bless!

Are you Icelandic?

Interesting. My husbands parents has always put the tree up on Christmas Eve. We do around the 10th of Dec. for whatever reason, I don't know. But, Fr. Stephanos would you please tell us why on St. Thorluakur Feast?

Dear Dr. Eric,

I can't blame your wife for wanting to put up the tree after Thanksgiving...it is nice for the kiddies, and it starts the Christmas spirit early...

On the other hand, I agree with you about keeping it up until after the Epiphany/Theophany. That is how we always do it.

Actually, I get really miffed when I see how people abruptly take down everything right after Christmas--they could atleast leave them until New Year's Day! I think it is nice to have a tree for New Year's. It makes for a nice holiday.

Ofcourse, ALL European Christians traditionally celebrated the twelve days of Christmas until the Epiphany/Theophany...my Church always keeps up the tree and wreaths until then.

In my humble opinion, the only thing that taking down the tree the day after Christmas does is REINFORCE the new secular and crypto neo-pagan shopping holiday of 'Christmas'...

It almost feels like the secular forces that be have dictated: put it up on the first shopping day countdown, and take it down right after the big material day. That is why we Christians should start a counter revolution of NOT doing this, and we should start being vocal about it. It cleverly undermines the holy day of Christmas.

Alice

Alice,

That's why we compromised by following the Latin Advent and Christmas seasons for keeping up the decorations.

My office also decorated on Wednesday, I guarantee that those decorations will come down the day after Christmas.

Dr. Eric (full of cinnamon rolls and pie )

I like a man who can compromise!

I also like a man of principle!

..and you are both; I knew there was a reason that we like you so much here!

Regards,
Alice

Our family is Russian Orthodox and so we celebrate the Nativity of Christ according to the Julian Calendar on 25 December / 7 January. We display Christmas Cards as we get them, no matter how early! My Matushka loves white "twinkle lights" in the house and so these go up fairly early, usually by the Feast of St Nicholas on 6/19 December. (By the way, we celebrate St Nicholas' Day - our family's Patron Saint - with All-Night Vigil and Liturgy, shoes put out for St Nicholas to fill with lenten candy, and a good fish dinner!) We buy our Christmas Tree before 12/25 December because experience has shown that they may not be available afterwards. But we place the tree still wrapped in twine in a water-filled bucket outside until we are ready to put it up inside. The Christmas Tree and other decorations like the Creche, garlands, etc., go up on 19 December / 1 January, as everyone has the day off, and it is the day before the Forefeast of the Nativity on 20 December / 2 January.

I grew up in a family where the Tree was bought, put up, and decorated on Christmas Eve. We did this for the first seven years of our married life also, then I was ordained to the priesthood. The strain of Royal Hours with the Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil on the morning of Christmas Eve, church cleaning and decoration, last minute present wrapping, preparation of and eating the "holy supper," and the Vigil and Liturgy of Christmas Day, left our Christmas Tree only half decorated that year. Christmas decoration for both home and church had to be moved earlier. After all, in the Byzantine tradition we have five days of forefeast. Decoration of home and church is appropriate then without violating the spirit of the Nativity Fast.

Fr David Straut
St Elizabeth the New-Martyr Orthodox Church
Rocky Hill, New Jersey
www.saint-elizabeths.org [saint-elizabeths.org]

Actually, I always take down the artificial tree before Great Lent begins, if I am not too busy. The decorations seem too festive for a penitential season, as I am sure you would agree. I tend to put up the decorations when the spirit strikes, usually no later than the week before Christmas. I used to worry about the timing for all that, but now I just have some good chocolate and don't worry about it.

Christmas decorations can be a subjective thing. During the Nativity Fast, one is drawn inward, and the gates of perception are opened. I frequently find myself walking the fields and woods of the farm, in quiet anticipation of the birth of our Saviour. And as I do, I see the decorations that God has seen fit to bestow upon us. A bare sycamore tree, stark against a brooding sky, fir trees swathed in immaculate blankets of white, like bishops in a Paschal procession, the twinkling white light of the stars in the heavens above. Going into the barn, I am struck by the wonderful combination of the smells of good, sweet hay, manure, and the breath of the animals, steaming in the dark. The sense of smell is often the most evocative of the senses, and I am reminded of that cave in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. As I am greeted by the sheep, lined up with wagging tails, waiting for a head rub, and maybe, a little treat of grain, I am reminded of when that Babe, born in that stable, was greeted at the gates of Jerusalem as the Messiah, only to be despised by the very people who greeted Him. The donkey, standing there, quietly watching over his dominion in the barn still bears the cross on his back, as a reminder of Mary's ride into Bethlehem carrying the Christ child within Her womb. The billy goat, being mischievous at the periphery, reminds me of St Joseph being tempted by satan. The falling snow, caught in the glow of the floodlight, like so many brilliant points of light, remind me of the angels who serenaded the shepherds in the surrounding hills.
Yes, one may say that I keep my Christmas decorations up all year, but I rarely see them until the Nativity Fast.

Alexandr

Alexandr,

That is incredibly beautiful!!

You should submit it to your priest and to any church publications your parish and/or jurisdiction have, so that it can be shared with many.

In Christ,
Alice

That's a better perspective.

Just being reflective today!

Alexandr

well - carry on being reflective then

We appreciate these reflections

In time for Christmas - probably around the first Sunday in January.

Fr. Serge

I do it because number 1 I want to celebrate a scandianvian feast day ( having been a missionary in Iceland for a few years) and number 2 Im too busy on Christmas Eve
Stephanos I

I guess that comes with the job!

Regards,
Alice

This subject was actually the first disagreement my husband and I had when we married, because our families came from two traditions. I wanted the tree up sometime during the first week of December, but he didn't want it up until Christmas Eve.

The compromise we agreed to that first year, which became our tradition is to

- buy the tree as early in December as our lives permit.
- have it sit naked in the living room a few days.
- put on the lights and nothing else.
- a few days later, start putting on ornaments.
- add ornaments gradually each day.
- put the angel on top when we return from midnight liturgy, around 2:00 Christmas morning.

That became a lovely way to illustrate the growing sense of anticipation. Once the children were born, it also became a way for them to participate in the preparation, with the symbolism clear for all to see: The tree starts naked, in darkness, and it gradually becomes filled with light and beauty -- just as our lives do as we draw nearer to Christ our Lord.

The gradual decorating of the tree also made things easier for me in terms of time. It would take HOURS to decorate the tree from start to finish: We kids would be quite bored by the end, and my mom would be cranky. On the other hand, it's quite easy to take 5 or 10 minute a day to put ornaments on the tree, and my kids know they have to do their chores/homework and have good behavior before they're allowed to put the ornaments of the day.

Of course, I don't even THINK about taking the tree down before Theophany!

What a beautiful tradition! Thanks for sharing it!

(Putting up some ornaments each day is not only symbolic and practical, but it is almost reminds me a little of the anticipation which advent calendars offer little ones..each day, a little Christmas treat)!

God bless you and your family this holiday season!

With love in Christ,
Alice

You know that the Christmas Tree started out as a Teutonic fertility symbol, don't you? So of course it's pagan.

If you plan to keep the poor tree in the living room for many days, with or without decorations, please give the tree a good supply of fresh water (there are stands for this purpose) and put it as far as possible from any radiator that may be in the same room.

If you have any decorative candles, keep them far, far away from the tree. If you must use them do so only once, the very first day that you bring in the tree, and have a fire extinguisher within easy reach. Yes, real burning candles are beautiful and romantic - and yes, they are both dangerous and illegal.

For that matter, if you use electric Christmas tree lights, please check them with the greatest of care - they also can be dangerous - and don't use any that you aren't quite sure of.

Sorry to be the Grinch that stole Xmas, but an Xmas fire is no fun at all for the involuntary participants.

Fr. Serge

Father,

That is why I have always had a good looking, real looking-- artificial tree!!!

It doesn't smell as nice, but real trees are not worth the annual expense, the worry and the fuss--especially if you are putting it up sometime soon after Thanksgiving and leaving it to the Theophany!

When the children were little, I would have a second tree in the playroom for them. At the time, my mother lived in the country, and my husband and the kids would go cut a little Charlie Brownesque tree from the woods, which we would decorate with little toy ornaments, and decorations which they made in school, but no lights.

In Christ,
Alice

Could you see me on a ladder with the use of one arm?

It seems to have been reappropriated rather throroughly...

I have known some true pagans in my day. I have yet to find any who cut down a pine tree and bring it indoors when trying to make babies.

Then again, in matters of baby-making or the use of baby-making equipment, trends, styles, tastes and applications vary widely... There could be renewed interest in this somewhere someday!