[9thLife]

Trees up!

[NYer]

We put up our tree only 2 weeks ago and will keep it up until the end of January.

Christmas tree, ping!

[sneakers]

We slways leave our tree up until January 6th. I hate going into stores the day after Christmas only to find St Valentines Day displays!

[WVKayaker]

Another spam posting to celebrate the pagan roots of roman Catholicism...

"The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm tree denoting the Pagan Messiah, as Baal-Tamar, the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith. The mother of Adonis, the Sun-God and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a tree, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been recognized as the 'Man the branch.' And this entirely accounts for the putting of the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas Eve, and the appearance of the Christmas tree the next morning" (page 97).

Tree worship was very common among the ancients. Says Festivals, Holy Days, and Saints' Days,

"The Christmas tree...recapitulates the idea of tree worship...gilded nuts and balls symbolizing the sun...all the festivities of the [heathen] winter solstice have been absorbed into Christmas Day...the use of holly and mistletoe to the Druidic ceremonies; the Christmas tree to the honours paid to Odin's sacred fir...." (p. 236).

[Yosemitest]

Are you sure you want to OFFEND our Heavenly Father and His Son?

Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you,
O house of Israel:Thus saith the LORD,
Learn NOT the way of THE HEATHEN,
and BE NOT DISMAYED at the signs of heaven;
for THE HEATHEN ARE dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people ARE VAIN :
for ONE CUTTETH A TREE out of the forest,
the work of the hands of the workman,
with the axe.
THEY DECK IT with silver and with gold;
THEY FASTEN IT with nails and with hammers,
that it move NOT.
They are upright as the palm tree,
BUT SPEAK NOT :
they must needs be borne ,
because they cannot go .
BE NOT AFRAID OF THEM;
for they cannot do evil ,
NEITHER ALSO IS IT IN THEM TO DO GOOD .
Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD;
thou art great,
and thy name is great in might.
Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?
for to thee doth it appertain :
forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations,
and in all their kingdoms,
there is none like unto thee:
But THEY ARE ALTOGETHER BRUTISH AND FOOLISH :
the stock is A DOCTRINE OF VANITIES.
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz,
the work of the workman,
and of the hands of the founder :
BLUE AND PURPLE IS THEIR CLOTHING :
they are all the work of cunning men
But the LORD is the true God,
he is the living God,
and an everlasting king:
AT HIS WRATH
the earth shall tremble ,
and THE NATIONS SHALL NOT BE ABLE TO ABIDE HIS INDIGNATION .

[Vaquero]

Up late down early is my mantra.

Gladly celebrate the birth of Jesus.

But don't like the parties (read inlaws) and the excesses of food etc and presents (I don't need it...buy yourself something nice with your money and I promise to do the same with mine)

I tend to be a grinch. So sue me.

[Kolokotronis]

Keep them up at least until the Epiphany (Jan. 6th).

Today is the the Forefeast of the Epiphany. The final lines of both the Apolytikion and the Kontakion are rich with the true and ancient Theology of The Church, which is at odds with so much we have read here on FR of late.

Apolytikion of the Forefeast:

Make ready, O Zebulon, and prepare, O Nephtali, and thou, River Jordan, cease thy flow and receive with joy the Master coming to be baptized. And thou, Adam, rejoice with the first mother, Eve; hide not as ye did of old in Paradise; for having you naked, He appeared to clothe you with the first robe. Yea, Christ hath appeared desiring to renew the whole creation.

Kontakion

Today hath the Lord appeared in the courses of the Jordan, crying to John and saying: Be not dismayed at My Baptism; for I have verily come to save Adam, the first to be created.

[clarissaexplainsitall]

My tree came down on the 28th. The priest at mass that morning was imploring us to keep them up for the octave and me daughter chided me that evening when I took it down. I told her when the priest showed up to clean my house, I’d leave the tree up longer! I needed a clean break after the three weeks of continuous parties etc... Decorations away, back on the diet, no more wine..... For January at least

[Old Yeller]

If you skip a Holy Day of Obligation, and die before you can get to confession, do you go to Hell? Or do you have to spend more time locked up in Purgatory, unless enough special masses (indulgences) are said to spring you loose earlier.

[miss marmelstein]

Keeping my tree up until the 6th. The problem now is that everyone buys their tree the day after Thanksgiving and by the time January hits, the tree is a dried up prune. This year I bought my tree two weeks before the 25th and was stuck with a very small one - all the rest were sold out. It’s now a semi-fire hazard! But I’ll keep it up.

One thing I hate seeing is the tree being thrown out on December 26th.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

[trisham]

We’re leaving ours up until June. :)

[Salvation]

From Christmas Even through the Epiphany. Catholics keep thinking and doing Christmas things while the rest of the world has moved on.

[cloudmountain]

I put up a NATIVITY SCENE because that means the BIRTH OF CHRIST. It's still up. I'll take it down January 7th. I don't put up a tree anymore.
Trees are really for the children, I think. They ARE pretty and smell nice though. We had them most of my life.

I decorate the windows facing the street with old Christmas cards, especially the ones that depict the NATIVITY of Jesus.

I decorate the windows facing "not much" with Christmas cards that I LOVE the most and those cards face ME.
All the cards will come down January 7th, AFTER the THREE KINGS DAY, gifts of the Magi.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I do not argue against the spirit of the time, but if your tree is browning, it does represent a fire hazard, so please dispose of it. You might consider putting up a small artificial tree in its place, to help keep the mood of the season.

[icwhatudo]

Put ours up Christmas Eve and will stay till Mid January.

[Claud]

Blessed Christmastide to all of you!

One of the great things about this season has always been the little feasts and traditions within it—like the blessing of wine on St. John’s.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/recipes/view.cfm?id=193

And we have two American saints right before Epiphany. This is what we did last year to keep up the festal nature of the season and commemorate St. Elizabeth Ann Seton on the 4th:

http://lettersfromhoquessing.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-seton-breakfast.html

[RckyRaCoCo]

Orthodox Christmas Day 2015
Wednesday, January 7, 2015

[ealgeone]

Good grief ya’ll have a lot of rules to follow.

[RegulatorCountry]

Keep your Christmas trees up? The Christmas trees that were brought to America by German Protestants in the early 18th century? By all means, keep them up until Old Christmas, January 6. They’re quite beautiful, aren’t they?