Christmas Decorations

Winchester · Dec 30, 2014

When do you take your holiday decorations down and put them away?

We usually have it all done by the weekend after the New Year holiday, although the last year or two, Rick has wanted to wait a while and keep the tree up for another week or so. He will go outside and take all the lights down as soon as we get a decent enough day to do so, simply because if he doesn't get it done right away and then we get snow, everything is buried.

As much as I enjoy the decorations, I like to get them down and get the house restored to (whatever passes for) normal. It seems so bare and it's kind of depressing in a way. But it also makes the house seem more spacious after the trees are down and out of the way.

kittymomma1122 · Dec 30, 2014

I always take the tree and decorations down the day after Christmas. I do that because our daughter's birthday is December 28. I was born on Thanksgiving and my parents never separated my birthday from the holiday dinner. I always wanted to make sure she has a special day all to herself. She is now 23, but we still do a family birthday dinner on her day.

arnie58 · Dec 30, 2014

We always make sure ours are gone by Twelfth Night, though I'm not sure why - probably tradition! The room looks a bit bare for a day or so, but I like the way my electricity bill comes down with the fairy lights!

parsleysage · Dec 30, 2014

This is the first year I managed to have any decent amount of decorations. We'll follow my parents' tradition and take things down on New Year's Day.

I always hate how most people end Christmas so early. The stations go back to playing regular music on the 26th and it's such a letdown. We usually have one or two family celebrations the weekend after, so it's weird to have everything "stop" while we're still celebrating.

jcat · Dec 30, 2014

We have them down by Twelfth Night at the latest - supposedly it's unlucky to leave them up longer - but usually they get put away on January 2. This year a certain little black gremlin has been pushing the tree around, so it might come down on Thursday.

MoochNNoodles · Dec 30, 2014

We used to keep our up till the 2nd week of January. But now I have an early January baby so we get them down by her birthday. Part of the reason is just that I need more room to have kiddos running around my house!

Another part is that party decorations and crep paper just don't go with my Christmas decor!

AbbysMom · Jan 1, 2015

I normally wait until after New Year's to do it, but I am just over it this year so I started taking down a few things yesterday. I am paying for it with my asthma though, so I won't be taking any more down for a bit.

sneakymom · Jan 1, 2015

Winchester said:
When do you take your holiday decorations down and put them away?

We usually have it all done by the weekend after the New Year holiday, although the last year or two, Rick has wanted to wait a while and keep the tree up for another week or so. He will go outside and take all the lights down as soon as we get a decent enough day to do so, simply because if he doesn't get it done right away and then we get snow, everything is buried.

As much as I enjoy the decorations, I like to get them down and get the house restored to (whatever passes for) normal. It seems so bare and it's kind of depressing in a way. But it also makes the house seem more spacious after the trees are down and out of the way.

So do we Winchester. And yeah- the house seems depressing and bare after the tree (or trees some years) are gone. But they take up a lot of room in our small house, the rooms they're in feel so much bigger when they're down.

Dh will take lights down soon. I guess we'll have to take them off the timer if he can't get to them this weekend.

Cheryl

nebula · Jan 1, 2015

Hubby started taking things down today, and will finish up tomorrow. I am fed up with looking at it, and want to get my house back in order LOL

mservant · Jan 1, 2015

I like to have mine down for new year's eve so I can give the place a good clean and tidy. They are down and sort of tidy this year but I haven't got their storage boxes down and got them away yet as I hurt my wrist a few weeks back and need to get someone to help with getting the boxes down and then back up again.

natalie_ca · Jan 1, 2015

I didn't decorate, so I don't have to take anything down. I was at my brother's today and they still have their decorations up.

When I did decorate in the past, I left them up until after January 7th for Ukrainian Christmas; as was the tradition when I was growing up.

jcat · Jan 2, 2015

Ours came down yesterday, but I was lazy. The tree is artificial and in two pieces. I took the lights off (wireless "candles"), but left the ornaments on the tree, since they're unbreakable. Now I won't know till next year whether it was a good idea.

mservant · Jan 2, 2015

jcat said:
Ours came down yesterday, but I was lazy. The tree is artificial and in two pieces. I took the lights off (wireless "candles"), but left the ornaments on the tree, since they're unbreakable. Now I won't know till next year whether it was a good idea.

I actually thought about the leaving the decorations on but didn't have the courage.

I'll be looking out to see how it worked next December.

betsygee · Jan 2, 2015

We usually don't have a tree, so there's no routine. This year, hubby felt like having one so we rented a live tree and scavenged ornaments from his (grown) kids to fill it up.

IMG_4864.JPG

betsygee
Jan 2, 2015

mservant · Jan 2, 2015

Well if you're putting things in to a box.....?

Rico looks very happy tucked in under all that scrunched up wrapping paper.

betsygee · Jan 3, 2015

MServant said:
Well if you're putting things in to a box.....?

Rico looks very happy tucked in under all that scrunched up wrapping paper.

Yeah, he was cute. He burrowed right into that box and then looked so comfy we didn't want to throw out the paper.

natalie_ca · Jan 3, 2015

jcat said:
Ours came down yesterday, but I was lazy. The tree is artificial and in two pieces. I took the lights off (wireless "candles"), but left the ornaments on the tree, since they're unbreakable. Now I won't know till next year whether it was a good idea.

A lady I knew had a 2 foot tree. All she did each year was to put a large garbage bag over it and put it into her storage area on a shelf until it was needed again. Then all she had to do was uncover it and plug it it! LOL

I used to work with a girl that kept a tall, fully decorated Christmas tree in the corner of her basement. She wrapped it up in a fabric cover of some kind, and then when Christmas came around again, she uncovered it and plugged it in.

My friend's Aunt and Uncle, keep their Christmas decorations up all year long. They love Christmas and they love how festive it makes their apartment. So tree, garland...the whole 9 yards stays in their living room all year long.

betsygee · Jan 3, 2015

Natalie_ca said:
A lady I knew had a 2 foot tree. All she did each year was to put a large garbage bag over it and put it into her storage area on a shelf until it was needed again. Then all she had to do was uncover it and plug it it! LOL

I used to work with a girl that kept a tall, fully decorated Christmas tree in the corner of her basement. She wrapped it up in a fabric cover of some kind, and then when Christmas came around again, she uncovered it and plugged it in.

My friend's Aunt and Uncle, keep their Christmas decorations up all year long. They love Christmas and they love how festive it makes their apartment. So tree, garland...the whole 9 yards stays in their living room all year long.

To each their own, right?!

My mom has about a 2 foot tall artificial white tree. She leaves it in her living room all year and decorates it according to the season--red heart ornaments and red lights for Valentine's day, shamrocks and green lights in March for St. Patrick's Day, Easter eggs and pastel colored ornaments in the spring, etc.

jcat · Jan 3, 2015

Natalie_ca said:
A lady I knew had a 2 foot tree. All she did each year was to put a large garbage bag over it and put it into her storage area on a shelf until it was needed again. Then all she had to do was uncover it and plug it it! LOL

I used to work with a girl that kept a tall, fully decorated Christmas tree in the corner of her basement. She wrapped it up in a fabric cover of some kind, and then when Christmas came around again, she uncovered it and plugged it in.

Ours fit in two large plastic garbage bags. The one problem with doing it this way is I'm not sure if any ornaments are missing, though I expect I'll find one or two over the next few days or weeks.

mservant · Jan 3, 2015

jcat said:
Ours fit in two large plastic garbage bags. The one problem with doing it this way is I'm not sure if any ornaments are missing, though I expect I'll find one or two over the next few days or weeks.

Oh, I'm sure Mogli will help you to find them - when it suits him.

Christmas Decorations

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