Holiday

With her cooking and lifestyle empire, Martha Stewart is a familiar presence in many areas of everyday life - but especially during the holiday season. While she’s shared plenty of culinary wisdom in her many cookbooks, Stewart recently shared some definitive rules she has for the holidays. In an interview with Today, Stewart explained her thoughts on some key Christmas traditions, including when to play festive music, what color lights she prefers for the tree, and even what kind of tree to bring in. Regarding her tree preference, it’s actually not as straightforward as a balsam fir. Read on to find out where she stands on some key holiday debates. Do you agree or disagree? Martha Stewart has some rules and beliefs for the time leading up to the holiday season HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: THE FAMILY TREE, Martha Stewart, aired December 8, 1999. ph: Todd Eberle / TV Guide / ©CBS / courtesy Everett Collection In the interview, Stewart was asked the age-old question concerning when it’s acceptable to start listening to Christmas music. The laws of nature dictate the answer is “always,” but Stewart had a bit more to say on the matter. Stewart agrees songs like “Christmas Oratorio” can be enjoyed “any time,” the classic “Santa Baby” should be best enjoyed “the week before.” She adores “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey - and loves Carey in general - but says her favorite, classic, holiday-defining carol is “O Holy Night.” RELATED: Martha Stewart Has Been Deemed The New Queen Of Thanksgiving The ability to host a website and own a domain has become easier than ever over the years and that means many creative minds out there like to send out mass emails to their subscribers themed around the most wonderful time of the year. Stewart says fans of hers can see updates like this practically in realtime on her Instagram page. But at the end of the day, she loves sending out a “really beautiful, visual card” with “wonderful photographs or a piece of artwork.” As a rule, Stewart likes to separate holiday well wishes from the informative nature of blog posts and newsletters. If she were to send out a holiday-themed newsletter, though, it would probably warn readers to try and get in a walk after their big Thanksgiving feast - the better to create room for a second round of food after dinner. Eat up! What it looks like to gather around a tree decorated by Stewart Martha Stewart has some rules for the holidays / Todd Eberle / ©CBS / courtesy Everett Collection Those celebrating Christmas have a key rite of passage each year: putting up and decorating a tree. The standard is some kind of fir, but here Stewart deviates a bit. “I absolutely prefer artificial trees now,” she admits. “I do not want needles all over my house.” In general, the fresher the tree, the fewer needles will fall. Some loss is definitely to be expected regardless, but luckily people opting for a real tree can cut back on some of this by getting a new tree and keeping it hydrated. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Martha Stewart (@marthastewart48) But the job’s not over yet; there are still lights to string and ornaments to put up. Here, Stewart actually prefers a classic white lights over colored and believes in sticking to a theme throughout the whole tree. In other words, as a rule, Stewart makes sure her ornaments match. That’s a tall task since, she shares, “I actually set up trees in about four different places on my property and in four different houses” and “I do gold trees, green trees, red trees, silver trees, pink trees, and they’re orchestrated to be very, very beautiful and have a cohesive design.” She’s come a long way from the makeshift anglehair decorations she draped around her family’s tree when she was little! Do you agree with these holiday rules Martha Stewart presented? Real or artificial? All white or colored lights? Share your own guidelines for the perfect holiday! MARTHA AND SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY, (from left): Snoop Dogg, Martha Stewart, 'Deck the Balls', (Season 1, ep. 105, aired Dec. 5, 2016). photo: ©VH1 / Courtesy: Everett Collection RELATED: The Fabulous Life Of Billionaire Martha Stewart Through Photos