Did everyone have a great holiday weekend? Tired of turkey yet? How about shopping — get any fabulous Black Friday deals?

Now that T-day has been paid respect, I can take a deep breath and get into the Christmas holiday. I like to acknowledge Halloween and Thanksgiving before moving on.

Last year for the first time ever I did the getting in line at 4 a.m. thing to get a great deal on a couple GPS units. With a newborn in the house I was awake anyway, and since I bundled up warm enough (for once, it wasn’t raining) it was actually kind of fun. Interesting camaraderie with those waiting in line, too — I can see why some people do this every year. My feet hurt by the time I finally got in the store, but saving $300 made it better. I later learned a friend was about 200 hundred people ahead of me, getting a great deal on a flat screen TV.

This year, I slept in. We’re holding off on big-ticket purchases, and fighting those huge early crowds for ten to twenty bucks in savings just wasn’t worth it. In fact, I’m making most of my gifts this year. I already have most of the materials on hand, just need a few bits and bobs. There were big crowds and long lines at the fabric and crafts store Saturday, but everyone was polite and patient, and one shopper even gave me a coupon I’d forgotten to clip.

Driving home, I saw my first Christmas tree of the season, tied to the roof of an SUV like an urban version of a hunting trophy. I had a little pang of sadness since we’ve decided not to put our tree up this year. A toddler who doesn’t quite understand “no” yet + a six foot tree covered with twinkling lights and pretty ornaments = recipe for disaster. Or at least a big mess. By next year we should be okay, since most of our ornaments are unbreakable from having to be cat-proof all these years.

Hard to believe, but the Christmas tree is a relatively new tradition. My Regency characters have never had one. In 1816 England, having a cut evergreen indoors and decorating it with candles, ribbons, perhaps apples and candy, was still new, practiced mainly by the Royal family. Queen Charlotte brought many of her German traditions with her, and Christmas trees in Germany go back to at least the 1500s. But the practice really didn’t become widespread until after this drawing circulated in 1848 showing Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children gathered around a candlelit tree. Families then began following the trend in England and the US.

I remember the color wheel in front of our tree in the 70s, casting red, yellow, blue and green light over the tree that was already draped with multi-colored light strands plus several packages of tinsel to simulate icicles. I can hear Cheech and Chong back in the day saying “wow, man,” and gazing at it for hours because it was pretty captivating even if you were sober. My husband and I never used them because of the hazard to our cats, but I just found out the beautiful icicles I loved as a kid were made with lead. Ugh.

We’ve never had a flocked tree, coated to simulate snow. I thought artificial trees were preposterous and maybe even blasphemous until I developed bad allergies. Having the perfect size, shape and species tree stored under the bed, ready to pull out at any time, eliminates what used to be one of the most stressful and argumentative aspects of the holiday. And no sneezing or runny nose.

A few years ago, it was the thing to have an upside down tree. Is that still in? We never followed the trend of hanging icicle lights on the house, either. Just a simple, single strand along the roof line.

What about you? Traditional? Trendy? Skip it?