I LOVE Christmas. All of it-- the decorations, the gifts, the music, the food, the sense of serenity and joy. I love it all.
But I’m a teacher married to a teacher, with 3 kids. Come 7 a.m. Monday, everyone in my house but the dog hits the ground running.
So today, Christmas goes away. The tree, the decorations, the Christmas china, the pillows, all the little nicknacks on my living room shelves, all of it. It has FINALLY stopped raining, so the outside lights look to be on the list as well.
I loved having it out, but today it all goes back into the boxes until next December.
I’m not a teacher, but I took my tree outside yesterday (and it had been without lights for a few days already). I like to spend time cleaning up and organizing, at least a bit, at the beginning of the new year, and ridding the living room of the tree really helps in that process.
A few years ago, my husband took the tree into the backyard in early January, just before a deep freeze descended. And there the tree stayed until May, when I decided I didn’t want to leave it in the nature preserve behind our house and realized I’d have to stuff it into my tiny car and take it to the county yard waste collection site. It was 80 degrees that day. Never again.
I love having Christmas stuff out, but by the end, I’m also ready to get it back in the boxes. It is a homey, almost cluttery look, and I detest clutter. It’s great for a while, but I always sigh happily when I get my normal house back.
January 1 was always the day I put it all away. Since I’m not working now, and the boys didn’t get home until after finals…I’m leaving it up through the weekend, taking it down Monday.
Since I quit putting out tons of stuff, it doesn’t have a cluttered look in th a family room, just warm and cozy. Our family room is more on the dark side, so the lights are nice.
I am planning on putting away all the stuff from the other areas of the house…at least taking them to the basement for now.
Not a teacher, (well, we homeschool so I’m more an administrator) but even I am throwing in the towel and taking stuff down/packing it away today and tomorrow. We normally wait until at least the end of the 12 days of Christmas, but joke that our “drop-dead” deadline is Super Bowl Sunday.
We are putting our house on the market so that is my extra motivation.
I usually wait until January 6 (Epiphany or Three Kings Day) because that was the tradition in our house growing up. We don’t put the tree up until the Sunday before Christmas (another family tradition). I am ready for all the stuff to go by then.
Not a teacher…but an accountant, and January 1 means the year-end reporting cycle begins. I kiss my personal life good-bye for a month or so. Yes, the tree and all other decorations come down this weekend. Boo.
I always say one of my favorite days of the year is like January 10 - all signs of the holidays gone and everything cleared, uncluttered, crisp!
Our tree will come down tomorrow. Have been scooping up a handful of other Christmas stuff a couple times a day the last couple of days. I leave my fireplace decorated with lights and some greenery and the greenery and lights on the staircase lower landing through January or whenever it starts to feel “not right” - it’s just some red, a little green and white lights so looks homey. The front of the house lights came down earlier this week when a tremendous rain/wind storm uprooted the two small lighted trees from their pots. I have candles I leave in the windows through February - it’s a winter thing. Will take down the back lights this weekend and leave my old sleds by the front and back doors for January as well.
@JustaMom5465 …I’m an accountant, too…this is my first year in 28 years that I don’t have “year end” dread. I always wanted my house spic and span clean when I went back!
I leave the door wreath and tree up as long as we can. Palm Sunday is mid-March, so the wreath can be on the door at least through Feb, afaiac. If we get lots of March snow, maybe longer. (To me, it’s a winter decoration.) Our tree is now artificial, so no rush. Some in our extended neighborhood leave the outdoor icicle lights up all year- and do light them. Nice to see. Happy 2016 to all.
We usually leave our stuff out for awhile, but this year, our tree was awful. We got a permit, and cut it down from the woods. Beautiful, huge tree, maybe 14-16 feet. But in our house, it looked sparse, kept leaning sideways, eventually raining down needles. If you just brushed against it, green all over the floor, no matter how much we watered it. Such a mess, I couldn’t wait to get rid of it! House almost looks clean now.
@JustaMom5465 and @conmama - another accountant here. I don’t have year end as such, but tax season coming up. I mostly do entity tax returns but do a few larger individual’s and also have to review a lot of returns done by others. Between January 1 & April 15 I will put in 400+ hours overtime (unpaid but we get a bonus and some comp time). I already did quite a bit December trying to get ahead (that never works!) & am just exhausted just thinking about the upcoming weeks. Getting too old for this, I don’t think I ever recovered from last busy season.
Anything not done by the end of this weekend will not be done for months!
@swimcatsmom and @conmama …our reporting cycles are really quarterly, with Y/E of course being the worst. So as soon as one quarter is done, it’s just about time for the next. And then mix the month ends in there too. Like you…I’m getting too old for this. Bah. Humbug.
No teachers in this house (adult teacher son has his own to think about now) so no hard and fast motivator.
Kinda love the clutter, cozy look of Christmas and DH ADORES it so we let it linger.
Jan 1 is also clean up day for us, too. The green garlands are so dry by then, it’s best if we take them down, It takes a bit longer to get all stuff back to the attic.
neither a teacher or an accountant but I am enormously satisfied to have 3/4 of it packed up…just taking a lunch break before tackling the rest. I love Christmas as much as the next person but I hate the clutter more.
i’m attempting to streamline things and have gone through umpteen totes to figure out what hasn’t seen the light of day in a long time and probably never will. every year I say I will do it, and every year I wait to the next because its hard to donate after the holidays. I finally just said enough and already dropped a small bag of useful stuff at a thrift store in hopes that they will just pack it up for next year, but if they toss it, oh well.
I actually made a list this year of “needs”-cheap wrapping paper and new lights–and stuck to it…I tend to have shiny things syndrome and if you throw in a significant % off I become to proud owner of various holiday doodads. its part of the new year resolutions for me!
