American Christmas?

[estepheia]

Did you miss me? I had an awfully busy week and an even busier weekend. I spent this weekend stocking the kids' advent calendars with second hand lego, chocolate, and some change (Tina is saving for a gameboy); I also translated for several hours, tidied, did laundry, dug out the Christmas decorations, went to a puppet theatre with hubby and the kids, and set up several Playmobil auctions in ebay. As you can see, I was too busy to keep in touch with LJ. I probably won't have the time to catch up either, because I have tons of laundry to fold - now that the kids are in bed (I'll sweeten the bitter pill with a few S2 epis of Andromeda)
Obviously, I haven't written a thing. But I feel kinda productive and virtuous, which usually means I'll get into writing mode soon.

I have not signed up for Secret Slasha (*sob*) because I don't want another WIP. Having said that I'd like to ask a few questions about American Christmas customs because I'd like to use the info as background for a Christmas-y fic I'm planning:
When do people get the tree? What are vital elements of a successful Christmas event? What do you eat? When does the mistletoe go up?

Comments

[zubiemom.livejournal.com]

Everybody does it differently here, but the trees are generally on sale the day after Thanksgiving. We have an artificial tree (allergy problems when we had real ones), and I put it up Thanksgiving weekend. We don't do mistletoe since it's toxic. Between the dogs and the cats, nothing is safe, even hanging from the ceiling, so we just don't bring toxic vegetation into the house. And even though I have no children, there are 7 stockings hanging off the bookcases in my living room (we don't have a fireplace) - one for each of the 5 dogs and 2 cats. The puppy will have her picture taken with Santa next weekend, so it can join the other Santa pictures on my desk at work.