new thread
I know this is so off topic so please bare with me .
Today is December 8th - Virgin Mary's Day here in Argentina - and people started to set up their Christmas Tree . It's a tradition to set up the Christmas Tree every December 8th .
Here is a photo of the Xmas Tree I set up today in my house :
So, considering that we have people from all over the world in this board, I wanted to ask:
- Do you set up a Xmas Tree in your house? If so, when and why do you set it up that day? When do you take it down? Do you use natural pine trees ? Do you have any photos to share?
I guess it's a cool thing to talk about and share so that we can learn and see how others in different parts of the world get ready for Christmas.
... : So, considering that we have people from all over the world in this board, I wanted to ask:: - Do you set up a Xmas Tree in your house? If so, when and why do you set it up that day? When do you take it down? Do you use natural pine trees ? Do you have any photos to share?: I guess it's a cool thing to talk about and share so that we can learn and see how others in different parts of the world get ready for Christmas...
Hi Dave - Merry Xmas to you - my tree !!!
... : So, considering that we have people from all over the world in this board, I wanted to ask:: - Do you set up a Xmas Tree in your house? If so, when and why do you set it up that day? When do you take it down? Do you use natural pine trees ? Do you have any photos to share?: I guess it's a cool thing to talk about and share so that we can learn and see how others in different parts of the world get ready for Christmas...
Hi Dave - Merry Xmas to you - my tree !!!
... Do you set up a Xmas Tree in your house? If so, when and why do you set it up that day? When do you take it down? Do you use natural pine trees ? Do you have any photos to share?... : Hi Dave - Merry Xmas to you - my tree !!!
My tree changes colour, the tree goes up in Dec. & down before New Year - I never use natural trees: ( I just plant trees instead ) ... Xmas day is HOT here, so going to the beach, is a must ... cheers CEM. :))
Those were some cute photos of your self !!
BTW, where do you live in? I thought I was the only one in this board who was spending Christmas in hot climate.
I wish I could spend Christmas in the cold snow someday.
Take my word for it.............you don't.
Between the snow, the ice, the high cost of heating oil,
I detest winter.
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Hmmmmm, well I'll second that as I can't stand the winter months even though it's a little better dealing with it here in NJ than upstate NY I'm sure.Personally the only snow and ice I care to see in in the freezer ;)Cheers
Mârk
I have been to New York during February and it was not a big deal. Not sure how it is during December though.
You guys just dont get it haha there is no snow where I live. NEVER :( Not even during winter.
The climate in my town is more like Southern California, so spending a Xmas in the snow would be different.
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Nah, detest the winter months as I'd rather live in your climate.Maybe I've just seen
too much winter in my life as I'm sick of it all plus I really feel the cold anymore. I want year round t shirt weather thank you:)Cheers
Mârk
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We used to have very cold winters (back in 1950's) but now the "winter" is warmer and warmer. And the summer is hotter than any tropical place :(
That's the way it was when I was living in South Florida.
I had only ever seen snow in movies. On x-mas day I could go surfing at the beach.
I first saw real snow when I was 21 and moved to Washington State.
It snows here sometimes, but not every year. But when it does it can be pretty heavy. Makes driving a challenge, but it sure makes the parks real pretty :-)
I would point out we've had storms where you 30+ inches
of snow that had the consistancy of hardened concrete.
You get a heavy wet snow (about 32 degrees, then have it change
to a heavy rain, then you have a quick freeze and you have
30+" of snow that is like concrete. A perfect recipe for
a broken back, a heart attack, and injuries from
slipping on the ice.
I figure last winter I slipped on the ice at 40+ times. And that is with lug soled boots.
You've gotta be kidding! When I lived in South Florida, it was said that only damn fool tourists would go to the beach in the wintertime. Seventy degrees! Too damn cold!
We lived a block from the beach (just south of the Broward County line) and I'll admit I walked there often, but I didn't go there much to swim. I'm five miles from the beach now here in San Francisco, and I go to the beach to walk just about as often. It really is too cold to swim out here, though, without a wet suit. It's about 55 degrees (13C) in the water most of the year. The air temperature all year out there is about the same.
Bill
Except that as winter progresses along and you get a bunch of
snow storms in a row you get to the point where there is
now place to put the snow, the snow piles are so high you
can't see around them. The roads, driveways, parking lots,
side walks become a sheet of ice.
And then there is back breaking work to shovel the snow.
Upstate New York gets alot more snow than New York City.
And then there is Buffalo NY and their lake effect snow.
Oh, yeah, but piles of snow get so big that trails develop over high cyclone fences that you can't cross in the summertime. New hiking trails to explore! People's dogs wander off because they can walk over the fences in their back yards. And people throw trash like furniture off of bridges, and it doesn't sink. It just goes "thud", and sits there until spring.
And the chunks of trash and ice in the Dirty River Charles just get bigger.
Bill
We haven't seen any snow at the house here since we ditched the analog TV!
Bill in San Francisco
I wish I could just once in my life haha not every single year.
This year I was about to spend New Year's eve in NYC but I preferred to save that money for a trip I am making in a few months.
I guess I'd like to know what it feels to spend holidays during winter, just like in the typical US movies like Home Alone, etc
Want to know what it feels like to spend holidays in winter?
Think of spending many hours of back breaking shoveling to
remove 4 and 5 foot drifts of hardened, ice encrusted snow.
Personally I find it about as appealing as having a root canal.
To give you an idea of what to expect: 1 inch of rain
equals ten inches of snow. 3 inches of rain = 30 inces of snow. And then once that snow stops falling it freezes solid.
Add in howling winds of 45 miles an hour and you snow drifts that freeze solid, everything becomes an icy mess. And then while you're shoveling this mess you dream of opening day
of spring training for baseball as a sign that spring will soon be here. (And we've had years where we got in excess of 100 inches of snow, and snow storms that last through April.)
I would also add that we've had snow as late as May, we've also
had snow as early as August.
Thx. Dave = I agree with all the comments re: climate - I live in Australia & I thrive & flourish in its wonderful climate - cold climates are beautiful yes - but practically / pragmatically = no wonder the Northern Hemisphere spends 6. months. in 'Dark-Winter-Blues' - we are just not meant to be hermetically sealed for half our lives ... cheers everyone & Merry Xmas to all ... CEM. :))
One of the things that is really sad is you'll see a truck load
of Christmas trees going down the highway to deliver them before
Christmas, and then you can imagine that all those trees will
end up in the trash a few days after Christmas. I know trees
are a rewnewable resource but it still seems such a waste of trees, money, etc. There is all thst money to pay for gas,
employees, truck maintenance to chop down those trees, plant new
ones, truck the trees to big city, sell them, pick them up on
trash day, truck the trees to the dump, etc. Such a waste.
I have to wonder, would Jesus frown on that when the money and effort could be used to feed the hungry, house the homeless,
etc. Seems to me it misses the entire point of Christmas.
Haven't set a tree up yet. We acutally have three. all artificial. but natural looking. As a kid. My parents were after following my fathers family tradition, that Fathwer Christmas brought the tree on Christmas eve along with the presents. However. My sibs and I would see other families with trees beforehand and petitioned our parents to do the same. So even as a kid We had a tree up by mid-December at the latest. You tree is quite nice. Felis Navidad.
Thank you for your nice comments, that sounded like a nice family Christmas story :) Although I am not a big fan of Christmas, I do enjoy everything related to it (movies, stories, christmas songs, etc).
Feliz Navidad :)
I wish people would use artificial trees. It's a shame to
drive through the neighborhood to find tons of trees being
tossed out for trash after only a few weeks of use.
I'm jewish so I don't do christmas trees, but we have
people in the neighborhood who put their's up at Thanksgiving,
others who put their's up on christmas eve.
I have to say I generally hate this time of year, a holiday that is supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus is in reality a celebration of the birth of Santa Claus. So the message of the holiday is you're not a good Christian unless you go deep into
debt to buy extravagant giftsf for everyone on your Christmas list For a holiday that is supposed to be promoting peace and love on earth it's all about the gifts. And then there are the malls where where people get shot over parking spots, gifts get stolen from cars/houses/charities/etc. A holiday that is supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus (who supposedly was
born much later in the year( brings out the worst in people.
Hi LHIA!
Here in Argentina we do use artificial Xmas trees (this is not the environment for natural pine trees due to the climate).
So we buy artificial trees and give them away after 8 years of ownership (You give it away to whoever you want).
I hate Christmas a little bit because it makes me feel sad for some reason (dont know why). Also, I dont consider myself as someone religious (although I celebrate Christmas just because its already a tradition).
I prefer New Year's Eve a lot more, I find more sense to that celebration than to Christmas.
I do agree that this is a very "commercial" date . People only think about buying things they don't need, getting drunk and eat a lot haha.
Dave,
That's a very beautiful tree you have. Since one of my occupations
is a Christmas tree farm I'm partial to natural trees. People start buying them the Friday after Thanksgiving (here in the USA).
This weekend was very busy and will probably be my busiest.
Note that I replant every year for the extreme environmentalists
here so that there are trees growing continuously.
The great majority of my customers are families. Its a major
family tradition and experience for many of them.
Thank you MG ! It's amazing to see how people set up their Xmas Tree in different dates in different parts of the world.
Yesterday I saw a YouTube video of the chosen Xmas Tree that was put up at the Rockefeller Center, and I felt kind of bad for the tree.
Here in Argentina -just like in the majority of South America- people buy artificial Christmas trees. The tradition says that you should give your christmas tree away after 8 years of ownership.
The Christmas tree is taken down in January 6th (during Three Kings' Day) but I personally take it down in February or so haha.
I grew up as a kid in South Florida. As the real trees came mostly from the Pacific NW of the USA, being so far away meant that real trees were old and sickly looking by the time they arrived via truck to S. Fla.
So we always had a nice fake tree. Friends would come over and marvel at how beautiful it was and where did we find such a lovely tree! After we told them it was indeed fake, they would rush out and buy one.
Now I live in Washington state and this is ground zero for real x-mas trees. In fact there is a x-mas tree farm not 4 miles away from my house. I could, if I so desired, cut down a fresh one myself. You can't get any fresher than that! But as I said the cats made having a real tree a living hell. They would just trash it and make a mess of everything. So fake tree it is. And the cats leave it alone.
I agree with everything you said.
I dont think I would buy a real Xmas tree if I had the choice to do so. It does not sound that clean to me. Besides, why taking down real trees to use them for a few weeks ?
Hey Dave, that is a fine looking tree!
- Do you set up a Xmas Tree in your house? Yes of course!
- If so, when and why do you set it up that day? We usually set it up the day after Thanksgiving, or in some cases (like this year) some time on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend! My wife and I love Christmas so I'm always anxious to set it up right away, and of course my daughters are excited too!
- When do you take it down? We usually take it down sometime a week or two after the New Years holiday...one year we left it up until the Super Bowl in February :)
- Do you use natural pine trees ? Sadly no...I am allergic to everything green so we use artificial trees!
- Do you have any photos to share? I'll take a couple tonight! We have 1 tree downstairs in our main living room and one upstairs in the family room!
- I guess it's a cool thing to talk about and share so that we can learn and see how others in different parts of the world get ready for Christmas. Your right, it is really cool to see how the rest of the world celebrates!
I'll gladly send you some snow and ice if your anxious to see it for Christmas ;)
-Tommy
Hi Tommy,
You sound so excited about Christmas! I also like it. I mean, I don't like Christmas that much but the entire season overall is just great.
Thanks for sharing all that info! I also take down the tree like in February or whenever I feel like (Who likes to do that?).
Yes, I have always wanted to spend Christmas and New Year's Eve in winter time so I will surely travel to NYC some day to do so (Is there any other better place than NYC to spend the holidays? haha).
I will be waiting for your pics :)
Thanks.
I am excited for sure. Its funny you say you've always wanted to spend Christmas with snow, because my wife and I have often talked about how it would be cool to spend Christmas in a tropical climate!
-Tommy
We always want what we dont have I guess hahaha. I think I watched too many christmas movies from the US when I was a kid so thats why I've always wanted to experience that.
Spending holidays in summertime is cool. You need a lot of air conditioner and cool drinks though, and a swimming pool if possible haha (or the beach, if you live close to one).
It's to be expected. If you live in California or some other area
that has no snow you dream of winter/snow/etc. On the other hand
if you live up here in Snow Country you dream of warm weather,
beaches, no snow, plenty of sun. (Especially when you're shoveling 4 foot drifts of hard ice encrusted snow.)
Yes, I live in Indiana, so we don't get as long as a winter as New York, but we do get our fair share!
It's been 15-25 degrees F the past week and a half or so with plenty of snow and ice to shovel...
-Tommy
A word of warning though it is COLD. Like zero degrees with a howling North wind, lots of ice and snow. If you hit NYC on a
day that is warmer than that consider yourself lucky.
You'll also be joined by many people to keep you company.
Keep in mind that zero degrees in NYC is 18 degrees Celsius colder than zero degrees is in Argentina.
Bill
I live in the USA in Washington state and we do set up a tree. We set our up a few days ago. No particular reason for the day. We usually set it up the 1st week of Dec.
We have cats so natural trees were a no-no. They drink the water in the bowl meant for the tree, they chew on the branches and get pine needles all over and they find it easy to climb into so they would knock down glass ornaments. With a fake tree it looks good and we have none of the problems with the cats as the smell of a real tree is not there to attract them.
No photos right now, sorry!
Thanx for posting your tree.... I cant imagine Christmas without cold weather.... it must be really nice not having to deal with snow and ice...(yesterday...sliding around going to ....Walmart...) here in Pennsylvaina....
Thanks for your reply !!
I can spend Xmas in winter time with no problems haha. I am so tired of hot weather during holidays!!
Here they are! The white tree is actually hard to see because of the lighting... I guess I should have taken it in the light.
Very nice!
Awww I loved them , Tommy ! Thanks for the pictures.
I may sound a bit childish but I LOVE christmas tree . Your kids should be very happy during this season having TWO christmas trees!! Some people just dont parents just don't pay attention to those details and it seems like you and your wife put a lot of work to that! -which is great!-.
Do you also decor the outside of your house with christmas lights, etc? At this point I can even imagine you in Santa Claus outfit hahah.
Here we don't tend to decour the outside of the houses as much as you guys do in the uSA, but we do it.
I'm so excited about holidays , sorry haha.
We finally got our tree up and decorated, and here it is!
Bill