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?