When is the right time to put up and take down your Christmas tree?

Christmas Day is over for another year, and while you're enjoying leftovers with the family you might be wondering just how much longer the Christmas tree should stay up.

Just like putting the tree up, taking it down comes with its own tradition, but there are also common dates people prefer to pack away the festive decorations.

We've taken a look at where the tradition of the Christmas tree comes from, and what that might mean for you and decorating your home.

When should you take down your Christmas tree?

When it comes to the right date to take down your Christmas tree, there's a little bit more clarity around what is acceptable. But it still depends on your tree and personal choice.

There are some people who will be taking off the baubles and putting it back in the box on Boxing Day, while others wait until January 1 to take it down and ring in the New Year.

But one of the main traditions is waiting 12 days after Christmas, which falls on January 6. This ends the celebrations with the Feast of the Epiphany.

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When should you put up your Christmas tree?

Well, if you were following the tradition set out by the ancient peoples of Europe, you wouldn't put up your tree until just before Christmas Eve. However, many people tend to put theirs up much earlier than that.

For Americans, this may fall on the Friday after Thanksgiving, at the end of November.

For many people, December 1 marks the date when it is socially acceptable to put up your tree – any date before then tends to be considered too early to put up Christmas decorations.

As Christmas was traditionally a Christian religious celebration, you could go by the date on which the Church commences celebrating the pending birth of Jesus on Christmas Day: the beginning of Advent.

Advent is the first 'Advent Sunday', or the first of four Sundays that come before Christmas Day.

Ultimately it's up to you

However, as many people with a variety of beliefs and backgrounds now celebrate Christmas all around the world, the right time to put up and take down your tree these days tends to come down to personal choice and personal preference.

There have been studies that say you're a happier person if you put up your Christmas decorations earlier, so if you want to do that, it's your choice.

In Australia, it's pretty common to see Christmas decorations start popping up in malls and department stores in early November, so if you want to follow that lead you can put yours up whenever you like.

Where did the tradition of Christmas trees start?

According to history.com, the tradition of using pine or evergreen trees as decoration in December dates as far back as when ancient peoples in Europe hung Evergreen boughs on December 21 or December 22 (when winter solstice falls in the Northern Hemisphere).

This was to remind them "of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return".

While these were nothing like Christmas trees as we know them, many would credit this as an early example of people using pine trees as decoration at this festive time of year.

Where did modern tree decorations come from?

Germany is credited with starting the tradition of decorating trees for Christmas as we do today.

A 16th-century Protestant reformer started the trend when he placed a decorated tree in his home with candles to resemble the beauty of the night sky. This then became a tradition throughout German homes.

As the people of Germany migrated and moved to countries all over the world, like Australia or America, the trend spread, with the first recorded 'Christmas Tree' in the US being around the 1830s.

The tradition of the Christmas tree was then widely popularised by British monarch Queen Victoria in 1846, when she was drawn with her husband, German royal Prince Albert, standing by a Christmas tree in the palace with their children.

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