<p>Definitely keep decorations up through Jan. 6 and take things down at leisure after. We leave our white lights on outside for a long time in the winter - just take the colored ones down sooner. </p>
<p>My favorite part of the Christmas season is the time after 12/25 when things are less rushed and time pressured, and more mellow. I wish more radio stations continued to play Christmas music after 12/25.</p>
<p>Yes, after Epiphany has begun.</p>
<p>Defiinitely through Jan 6 to celebrate the Epiphany. However, many times, it stays up until we have a truly free weekend in January. Then there was the year we had 18 snowstorms and outside decorations stayed up past Easter when the snow melted enough to pull out the decoration. We had Easter decorations inside and Christmas outside.</p>
<p>My older relatives always celebrated “Russian Christmas” on Epiphany. And DH has the same tradition about black-eyed peas on New Year’s. (In my family, it’s “pork for prosperity.”) The tree will come down in time for next week’s tree pick-up and my neighbor and I will leave the door wreaths up until the weather no longer lets it make any sense at all- sometimes, we’ve made it almost to an early Easter. In our wider neighborhood, many families keep their outdoor lights up all year- usually the ones that look like icicles. Kind of fun.</p>
<p>I take down all inside deecorations on Jan 1st and 2nd (takes me that long) except the Christmas trees I usually leave up until the day after Epiphany. Outside lights depend on the weather and hubby’s schedule.</p>
<p>We usually do a nice dinner and time for prayer/reflection on Epiphany.</p>
<p>Evangelical Lutheran here. Growing up and through about 20 years ago we waited until New Years day. That was as much driven by work schedule (depending on when during the week, Christmas came?) We had to usually work the sprinkling of week days between Christmas and New Years.</p>
<p>That has gradually been walked back to December 26 or 27, always before New Years Eve. We’re in the “when its over, time to move on” camp. We also travel often (this year excluded), taking advantage of the kids holiday from school, and not wanting to come back January 3rd/4th and walk into a “time warp” ;)</p>
<p>Brother and his wife dismantle on Christmas day night!</p>
<p>We set up the day after Thanksgiving, however, and have always reserved that day for decorating.</p>
<p>Another one who likes to wait till Twelfth Night. I love the tree and any excuse to keep it longer is fine by me. Our neighbors toss out their trees the day after Christmas - I don’t get it at all, though I think they put their tree up earlier than we do.</p>
<p>Even though we’re not Christians, we occasionally give a Twelfth Night party - people are more relaxed then and it’s nice to have the house decorated.</p>
<p>Every single ornament on our tree has a box, with tissue or bubble wrap. It takes a long time to take it down and pack it up, so I start the 7th of January, but it usually takes the next week/weekend to complete it. I didn’t take half of the decorations out this year and only D noticed. H still ‘needs’ the tree to be fresh cut, so we do have a certain date it has to be out for the trash collector. H also likes to keep the poinsettias alive as long as possible. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Our kids leave out a shoe for Sinterklass on December 5th, the Dutch St. Nicholas Eve. Sinterklass fills them with chocolate coins and other small gifts. Each gift comes with a clever rhyme. One of S’s gifts this year was a replacement for a lost hat so the rhyme said something about being transferred to Sinterklass from St. Anthony. I thought it was more clever than he did…</p>
<p>I put up fewer decorations now too, although for twenty years we went away for Christmas, and after the kids were older teens we didn’t always have a live tree. Santa would put tinsel on the tree while we were gone though. 
This year we also weren’t here for Christmas, but I put up lights around the china shelf in the dining room, took out the nativity set & put up my ceramic trees and a few other things.
I probably will put everything away except for the lights this week.
When H & I were first living together, we used to leave our Christmas tree up until it started making a mess- we just loved it!</p>
<p>I grew up Catholic in a very heavily Catholic area and had never heard of leaving the Christmas decorations up until Epiphany. We always took everything down New Years Day and so did everyone else I knew.</p>
<p>I really was planning on Jan 1 to take the tree out, but it looks so beautiful and I’m enjoying it so much, having not had one in 20 years. I guess I’ll have to get it outside before leaving for FL, but I don’t want to.</p>
<p>*Mom2collegekids,
We also move the kings closer each day from Christmas until the 6th when they are right at the manger.
(Also, Baby Jesus does not appear until Christmas Day)
*</p>
<p>Lol…We, too! When I was a child, we kept the Baby Jesus figurine in the piano seat until Christmas. lol (it may sound a bit disrespectful to keep Baby Jesus in a seat, but with a large family, we knew it was a safe place to keep him.)</p>
<p>As an Episcopalian, I always waited till Epiphany as well. I grew up with many Orthodox friends & they fully celebrated “Little Christmas” with presents on Epiphany as well. </p>
<p>I was really surprised when we moved to TN & I saw trees on the curb on 12/26. Christmas had just begun! But we also get our tree much later than most around us.</p>
<p>This year, we took all inside decorations down yesterday. Our usual NYE company came earlier than usual and have already left. The speed in my house goes from 0 to 60 starting Thursday & I just won’t have time.</p>
<p>As a kid, decorating the tree was usually saved for Christmas Eve. My mom would finish after my brother and I went to bed, which added to the magic on Christmas morning. </p>
<p>I keep angling for an artificial tree- my brother’s is gorgeous. But the team outvotes me.</p>
<p>Tree came down the night of Dec 25 because we were traveling the next day. In years when we don’t go away after Christmas the tree stays up until Jan 1.</p>
<p>RE #26, Mainline protestants (Episcopalians/Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians) would be considered “liturgicals.” So you are actually agreeing with me.</p>
<p>Non-liturgicals, like Baptists and Evangelical/Charismatic/Bible churches would be less likely to know about Epiphany (or Advent, Lent, various feast days) because their churches do not have the same historical attachments that Catholics and liturgical Protestants do.</p>
<p>When we were little, my brother would move the three kings around the house! Baby Jesus was behind the manger and was put in the crib on Christmas Eve. Even today, I would never be able to take the Nativity set down until after the Epiphany.</p>
<p>^ in my house we would probably lose baby Jesus and the 3 kings if we started moving them around:)</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>lol…that’s why we kept Baby Jesus in the piano seat. Now, we keep him in a drawer in a living room end table. </p>
<p>Moving the 3 Kings around the house is a cute tradition…reminds me of the Olympic torch traveling to the venue. We never had the 3 Kings that very far away…just on one end of the hearth with the creche on the other. </p>
<p>These stories about traditions, trees, Epiphany, lights, Advent, etc recall a cringing feeling that we have every Sunday during Advent when the candles are lit during church. Several years ago, one Sunday, our family was asked to light the Advent wreath candles at the beginning of Mass. The dad usually does the lighting. We forgot that DH has horrible depth perception and watching him try to light the candles with one of those very long lighting poles was a comedic event. Every Advent we giggle a bit when we are reminded of that.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, how do you prevent baby Jesus from accidentally falling off when someone pulls off sheet music from inside the piano bench?</p>