MovieChat Forums > My So-Called Life (1994) Discussion > question for our American friends....bit...

question for our American friends....bit random

posted 12 years ago by dazmc5-2
6 replies | jump to latest

Hi all, i was just watching the ep 'so called angels', and my question is this...
I noticed that at the Chases house they were just putting their christmas tree/decorations up the day before christmas eve, is this normal practice in America or were they just running late in getting them up? Im from England and here we have some eager christmas fans who put theirs up as early as october!(no lie lol), so i was just curious.
Oh and then they seemed to be gone in a flash come New Years Eve. So when do you guys take yours down, again in the U.K some people leave theirs up way in to January. Thanks xx

[–] jlc217 12 years ago

I live in the southern US and we usually put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, or at least the weekend after and take it down the weekend after New Years. That's pretty standard amongst the people I know. Not sure if its different in other regions.

[–] dazmc5-2 12 years ago

hi, wasnt sure when Thanksgiving was celebrated, so just looked it up. So by the sounds of it, its quite similar to the U.K as to when they go up and come down (looks like they were running a bit late at the Chase household lol)
Thanks for the reply! x

[–] JessaCita 12 years ago

Yeah, it's definitely not an American thing. I do know a couple people who decorate the night before Christmas Eve, but they're in the minority. I'd say most people start putting up decorations right after Thanksgiving (a month before Christmas), and take them down right after New Year's.

Seems like a waste of effort to keep the decorations up for only a couple days!

[–] markbirdxxx 12 years ago

Baaaaaaaaaaaaa ha ha! Same here in Australia! Most people start in November! A strange rule to most, is that you must have the tree up on December 1st! And we also leave the tree up half way through January too!

I've noticed a lot in American movies and TV shows that a lot of American's don't put the tree up until Christmas eve and take it down the day before new years!

[–] Lets_talk_about_that 11 years ago

Every family is different. Most people put the tree up WEEKS before Christmas, and open presents on Christmas morning. But a small minority decorate the tree on Christmas Eve and some people open presents on Christmas Eve as well. Most do not do things that way though.

Go scratch!

[–] doughdee222 11 years ago

I grew up in Massachusetts in the 70s and 80s... We'd put our tree up usually in the first week of December, maybe the 10th or 12th at the latest. The tree would come down around January 2nd or 3rd.
That was always one of my favorite days of the year, almost as good as Christmas itself. Bringing the tree in the front door and setting it up in front of our living room window, getting the boxes of ornaments and lights down from the attic, untangling and testing the lights, decorating. Always a festive family day.

My family didn't go crazy with outdoor lights like you see in some movies. But my father would put some on the bushes by the front door. We'd always have a decent display on our street, which was rather short.

-Doughdee222

"Fire me, boy!"