I used to when I had it in my yard. Where I grew up it grows in the oak trees. I think it's actually bad for the trees. I don't think I would ever hang fake mistletoe.

I got some at the farmer's market last weekend. We haven't figured out how to hang it, so it's on the mantle with the other small stabs at holiday decorating for now...

As for flu season: The traditional kiss was on the cheek, not on the mouth. A chaste kiss on the cheek was scandalous enough; the Victorians would have never kissed on the mouth in public.

I hang the fake stuff because I love the tradition but want to protect the little ones and our kitties from ingesting the berries, which are poisonous.

We do! We got preserved mistletoe. I figure we can use it year after year.

I don't know about where you live, but the trees in the historic part of town here are just about lousy with it.

We have a different species here than the European mistletoe, which I think is pickier about what kind of tree it grows in. I've seen mistletoe in several species of hardwoods (even a Bradford Pear!).

If I remember right, there's a species in the western US that grows in spruce or yew...

Mistletoe is a parasite, but it also attracts birds to spread the seeds of the host tree (and its own seeds). It grows in many different kinds of trees and is much easier to spot in the winter when the trees lose their leaves as they are the big green clumps left behind. This year, I picked up a sprig at my local garden center and stuck it in a doorway for my holiday party. Kiss away!

P.S. It only cost me a dollar and I didn't have to climb any snowy trees to get it! Make sure you're safe if you want to pick your own!

I got my mistletoe at Walmart. I've also seen it at the tree lots.

Wait a minute. deliriumsama, are you saying that this particular tradition started in the Victorian age?

some florists shops sell it.

An old Christian tradition said that mistletoe was once a tree and furnished the wood of the Cross. After the Crucifixion, the plant shriveled and became dwarfed to a parasitic vine.

Mistletoe is commonly used as a Christmas decoration, though such use was rarely alluded to until the 18th century.

According to custom, the mistletoe must not touch the ground between its cutting and its removal as the last of Christmas greens at Candlemas; it may remain hanging through the year, often to preserve the house from lightning or fire, until it was replaced the following Christmas Eve.

According to a custom of Christmas cheer, any two people who meet under a hanging of mistletoe are obliged to kiss. The custom is of Scandinavian origin.

In Norse mythology, Baldr was a god of vegetation. His mother Frigga, prompted by a prophetic dream, made every plant, animal and inanimate object promise not to harm him. But Frigga overlooked the mistletoe plant — and the mischievous god Loki took advantage of this oversight, tricking the blind god Höðr into killing Baldr with a spear fashioned from mistletoe. Baldr's death brought winter into the world, until the gods restored him to life. Frigga declared the mistletoe sacred, ordering that from now on it should bring love rather than death into the world. Happily complying with Frigga's wishes, any two people passing under the plant from now on would celebrate Baldr's resurrection by kissing under the mistletoe.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistletoe

my aging cougar boss hangs mistletoe. then she uses to sexually harass her young male coworkers. ***shiverrrrs***