They had Christmas things in some of the stores here before Halloween!
We put up the tree and whatever decoration inside after Thanksgiving and take it down usually sometime after New Years although I've been known to take them down shortly after Christmas if we have a tree that drops needles everytime you walk across the room.
We had an artificial tree for a time but it was huge and such a hassel to assemble and then to try to repackage to store .....and we missed the fresh pine smell. Then for several years we cut our own but that, too, presented some problems as we went as a family and what was a convenient time for some was not for others. So for the last however many years we've purchased them already cut and it's so much simpler. We've also downsized our tree. It use to take me FOREVER to get it all decorated, climbing up a ladder, then , down the ladder to move it another 3" .....and then repeat it all over again to get around the tree ....now I can do it in an evening and reach the top with my feet firmly planted on the ground...... so much more enjoyable.