Millions of people around the world celebrate Christmas on December 25. Many of them put up a Christmas tree as part of their celebration. For many, setting up the tree is a tradition that takes place around the time of the American Thanksgiving holiday to kick off the season. Somewhere around the first or second week of January is traditionally when most people take them down, as New Year's Day and the 12th day of Christmas (January 6) are seen as marking the end of the holiday season.
Queen Elizabeth II, however, although a woman of tradition, ignores this particular custom and keeps her Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations up until February -- February 6 to be exact -- and the Mirror reports that there's a truly touching reason why she does so.
The queen and the rest of the royal family celebrate Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, England. While the rest of the family departs from Sandringham following the festivities, the queen stays on until February 6, the anniversary of the death of her father, King George VI. He died in his sleep at the age of 52 at Sandringham, when Elizabeth was 25-years-old. She was in Kenya at the time and cut her trip short to return home.
