Is there a tradition of Santa bringing the Christmas tree?

[GAMESHARQ]

I was recently watching the I Love Lucy Christmas Special. In this episode, Lucy and Ricky tell little Ricky that Santa Claus won't come and bring the tree and the presents until little Ricky goes to sleep. After he goes to sleep, Fred and Ethel come in with a tree and the 4 of them (Ricky, Lucy, Fred, Ethel) decorate it while little Ricky sleeps.

I've tried searching on Google to confirm if this was something people actually did back then. I also asked someone who was a kid back then if they did this, but they said they never heard of it.

Is this just something they made up for TV or is this something that was an actual tradition at some point in history?

[MinnesotaMike]

I have heard of families trimming the tree on Christmas Eve, but never Santa bringing it.

[JollyElfDC]

Actually that was the way it worked for my dad when he was young. I figured it was just because my grandfather didn't want to spend a lot of money on a tree and got one cheap on Christmas eve. I have no idea if that was the case. He didn't pass that tradition on. When I was growing up we always had our tree up a week or 2 before Christmas.

[MinnesotaMike]

Yeah...when I was a kid we usually decorated about 2 weeks before Christmas and it still seemed to me that it was up for a pretty long time. Now, as an adult, I always want it up earlier and keep it up later than my parents ever did!

[ornamentmaven]

No tradition just a Hollywood thing. In those days some families had the tradition of putting up a tree on Christmas Eve - my father's family did this - they were Italian immigrants. But I think the Santa part was just a way for them to surprise Little Ricky.