I usually have set it up the first Saturday in December,
Last year, with kids away at college for the first time, I waited until my daughter was home. She got home on Dec. 16th, and we went and got a tree on the 18th. But the lots were pretty well picked over.
This year, I am asking the kids if it s okay to get one before they are home. That way, when they get home from finals, the house will be all decorated for Christmas.
When I was growing up, my mother never decorated until December 18th, because my sister’s birthday is the 17th.
The tree is always left up until January 6th.