<p>For those of you who celebrate Christmas . . .I just got an email from a friend who mentioned in passing that she had finally gotten all her Christmas stuff put away (it's 12/30).</p>
<p>I feel like the holiday just happened, and I am enjoying seeing the tree and garland on the mantel,e tc. I plan to keep things up until New Years Day at least.</p>
<p>A former boss of mine always took everything down on 12/26! Is this a trend? As I see people now decorating the day after Thanksgiving, are they now un-decorating the day or two after Christmas?</p>
<p>What is your timetable on getting the house back to normal? I do wish I figure out a tasteful way to leave some white lights up thru the winter - I really love having them lighting up my railings etc. inside.</p>
<p>We just had our fourth Christmas celebration yesterday morning. Son and future DIL were in town after being with her folks at Christmas. So yep, it still feels like the holidays to me!
Usually, I take down our tree and other decorations on January 1st while watching the Rose Parade. We have a January 2nd birthday in the family, so it seems like a good time to make a theme change. But it varies. Dh usually takes the lights down the weekend after Christmas, but he didn’t this year, probably because of my son’s arrival. I like the lights, too, but we don’t turn them on past January 1st, even if they are still hanging.</p>
<p>I like to take them down on Jan.2, after all of the holidays. My DH has this superstition that keeping them up past Jan. 1 (even by one day) is “bad luck.” He also believes we MUST have black eyed peas on New Year’s day. I don’t believe in these kinds of superstitions, and in general my DH is logical and not overly superstitious. I don’t mind making black eyed peas for New Year’s day, but I don’t buy into the BS about having to take down Christmas decorations by any particular day or one will have bad luck. Depending on our schedule and on what days the holidays fall, I might pull them down early, but I have also left them up past that. If he gets frantic about it, he can do it himself.</p>
<p>Like you, I enjoy them also, especially at night after everyone has gone to bed and I sit alone with a glass of wine or hot tea and just enjoy them in solitude. But I will admit that it also feels good to put them away after they have served their purpose.</p>
<p>Jan 6th after the Epiphany. We don’t put them up until almost Christmas so decorations have only been up a couple of weeks and tree has only been up for a little over a week now.</p>
<p>After the Epiphany for the tree and outside lights. I put away some of the inside stuff (Advent calendar, etc) today just because I have a bowl game tomorrow and a busy Jan 1 and then back to work.</p>
<p>It gets done in stages. Most inside decorations come down after Jan. 1 except for the Nativity, that gets put away after Jan. 6th. The tree used to stay up until the 6th, but our HS NJROTC has a fundraiser tree pick up the Sat. after New Year’s, so that will be taken down on Friday. The wreath, garland and lights outside will come down next weekend. It never amazes me that with all of the preparations, the season goes by so quickly, even though I start decorating the friday after Thanksgiving. The house always seems so bare!</p>
<p>Took ours down today. I always say I’m just as happy to take the tree down as I am to put it up. I get very tired of the pine needles, and as a huge creature of habit, I like getting our family room back to the way it’s “supposed to be”. :D</p>
<p>The 26th or 27th. To me, when it’s over, it’s over. I love Christmas decorations, but once Christmas day is past, taking them down and putting them away is another chore looming over me. Always glad to be done. Then there’s a week of finding miscellaneous things when you thought you were done :)</p>
<p>DS wanted his Yule tree, so it will come down before he goes back to college. We normally take it down on New Years Day while we drink Bloody Marys and watch football. </p>
<p>My best buddy keeps his up until his party after Epiphany (Jan 6th this year). Poor tree is fresh and has been up since the day before Thanksgiving so it is past its prime to be sure.</p>
<p>I’m in the Epiphany camp (Jan 6). I pull the timers on that date, although I may not get to putting everything away that day. The only exception we make is for outside decoration if a storm is predicted just after Jan 1. (fake tree, so no issues w making recycling dates)</p>
<p>My neighbor’s tradition is the tree is on curb before they head out to anything (shopping or open houses) on Jan 1.</p>
<p>Probably Jan 1 because my son will be here to help me take out the tree. We are going to FL on the 4th and the trees can be a fire hazard. i have a friend who used to keep her tree up until spring. You can keep your lights and other decorations up as long as you like.</p>
<p>You have “garland” on your mantel!? Boy…that girl really gets around :)</p>
<p>We will take our tree down on January 3. Normally we would wait until this coming weekend not this year. The needles are all falling off. To be honest…if I can rustle up interest, I’ll take it down tomorrow. We didn’t put it UP until December 22.</p>
<p>Like moonchild, I take the decorations down on New Year’s Day while watching the Rose Parade. This year I plan to weed out some of the stuff I don’t bother to put out anymore.</p>
<p>It has to be after the Epiphany. We put our tree up late–a few days before Christmas. We try to recognize Advent and Christmas as separate liturgical seasons. I usually get everything put away by mid-January. (Some of my friends leave decorations up until Candlemas–around Feb. 2, which was traditionally the end of the Christmas/Epiphany season.) Taking down decorations before Epiphany is just plain wrong, imo ;)</p>
<p>Our tree went up (live tree) dec 1 and came down yesterday - dec 29. I will gradually put away other decorations the next couple of days that are full-on Christmas. Te mantel will stay decorated till one day in January where it just feels past the holiday totally. White lights will stay on the fireplace till they burn out - whether a week or a couple of months - it’s a good winter look. Candles stay in the window thru February or until they bulbs start giving out. </p>
<p>I too actually love having the house back to normal. I’m mostly worried with the snow lately when the heck I’m going to get the outdoor lights and decorations cleaned up. Ugh.</p>
<p>Most of ours didn’t get put up until right before Christmas, although the tree and outdoor lights went up a couple weeks before. After the new year I will probably take down the outdoor decorations lest I offend my uptight neighbors, but I will leave the indoor stuff up until I get sick of looking at it. I predict another 2-3 weeks. Next year I think I will decorate right after Thanksgiving and leave them up just as long, I love Christmas decorations.</p>
<p>I admit this year I am motivated to leave them up as long as possible because, due to the timing of our move, Christmas decor is just about all we have! The house will look very empty once I put everything away for the year.</p>
<p>We are in the epiphany group. My churches will be singing carols during worship on January 6, and the decorations at home and church come down after that. We are always the last house on our street to be lit up for the holy days.</p>
<p>We went to a fake tree about 3 years ago. DH thinks this is now the excuse to leave Christmas up till Valentines’ day. I am not kidding.
He loves Christmas and is sad when it gets put away.</p>
