When do you take your Christmas stuff down? - Freeze-Frame Radio

darleneapd · Cuff 'Em N' Stuff 'Em

When do you take your Christmas stuff down?

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

We usually take everything down about a week after Christmas. If the weather is bad or its really cold, I will quit turning the outside lights on after new Year's.

The tree always looks so bare when the presents are gone. My Grandmother always has her Christmas celebration the week after Christmas so there are a few presents left under the tree until then.

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

pretty much my decorations are the christmas cards that I received and keep on the mantle of the fireplace. I'll take them down shortly after the new year.

I am sure my folks are in full-on takedown mode at their house with the inside stuff right now!

sgmorrell · Low in Fiber High in M-SG

We usually take everything down the first weekend in January...but with Ne Year's Eve falling on a Sunday, it might stay up until the 6th or 7th....

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

Our tree came down yesterday and I will pull all the lights down as soon as AC and I have a night off together so she can watch Little A.

pipsar6 · Chocolate Pip Cookie

12th Night - Epiphany

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

Note to self: When taking down lights this year, don't wad them up in a big ball and say you'll worry about it next year.

darleneapd · Cuff 'Em N' Stuff 'Em

Sparky wrote:

Note to self: When taking down lights this year, don't wad them up in a big ball and say you'll worry about it next year.

Thanks for that note to self, because you just reminded me!!

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

No problem...think I'll remember to actually do it?

squonk · RetroMan

Inside stuff comes down when the wife says so... could be as long as valentine's day. Outside stuff is up to me. First warm day in January after the first full week, unless it snows. If I take it down and it snows afterwards, there is always the "we should have waited" statement. If we go in to "permafrost" conditions anything stuck in the ground stays until the thaw. I've had those stake style outlets in until late February.

Sidebar: Did some grilling last night... patio is lit by christmas lights. Pretty cool.

craig uk · Chairman Of The Board

Its should all come down by the 6/7 jan i believe, thats when ours will anyway.

Woo Hoo · The Chosen Woo

Christmas stuff? Was I supposed to put Christmas stuff up?!

I guess my decorations are similar to JD's this year. But I keep my cards up for quite awhile. We have a door between the kitchen and the living room and I have them taped to it. So I guess when they start falling off I will take them down. I just know that I am a late sender and some of the ones I received were closer to Christmas so I try to keep them up for a bit.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

My Christmas decorations come down when 1 of the following criteria is met:

1) When so much of it falls down that I get mad and just take it down.
2) When the cats decide to "help" take it down for me.
3) When I say, "Man, I am so sick of friggin Christmas stuff!"
4) When I finally get rid of all the presents under the tree.

It usually works out to being sometime during the week after Christmas.

disco strangler · Smiles everyone, smiles!

we don't do outdoor decorations since we live in the sticks and our house can't be seen from the road -- don't have to worry about those staying up until summer. i've started taking decorations off the christmas tree, but my nativity scenes will stay up through the 12th night (Epiphany).

sgmorrell · Low in Fiber High in M-SG

Here is the "definitive" answer....

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night is when all Christmas Decorations should be removed so as not to bring bad luck upon the home. If decorations are not removed on Twelfth Night, they should stay up all year.

Did you know?
Until the 19th century, people would keep decorations of holly, ivy, box, yew, lauren and mistletoe up until February 2nd, Candlemas Day, the end of the Christmas season, 40 days after the birth of Jesus.

In the reign of Victoria decorations came down on Twelfth Night and generally were burnt.

When is Twelfth Night?
Twelfth Night is the evening of the 5th January

"The evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking". Oxford English Dictionary

Why is Twelfth Night on the 5th January and not the 6th (Twelfth Day)?
It is only with our modern understanding of astronomy and time keeping that we start a new day in the middle of the night. To our ancient ancestors, the end of day was when the sun went down. The oncoming night was the beginning of the next day. Nights were actually part of the holiday i.e. the next day.

Night

Day

Christmas, started at sunset on December 24. They considered this to be Christmas Evening (or Christmas Eve). Christmas would then continue until nightfall on the 25th which started St. Stephen's Day, the first of the twelve days of Christmas.

To our ancient ancestors, the Twelfth night after Christmas would have been the evening starting January 6, Epiphany, the twelfth and final day of the Christmas season.

The actual date for Twelfth Night has caused much confusion for years and still does today. This is because our modern understanding of the words 'eve' and 'night' mean something different to what our ancient ancestors considered them to be.

For us the night or evening follows the day

Day

Night

From Christmas to Epiphany
The period between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6th) was traditionally the time to celebrate. It was a time of feasting and a time when the rich were supposed to share what they had with the poor (Boxing Day).

A Time for parties and to play tricks
In England, people used to have parties on Twelfth Night and it was traditional to play practical jokes. These included tricks such as hiding live birds in an empty pie case, so that they flew away when your startled guests cut open the crusts (as in the nursery rhyme "Sing A Song of Sixpence" goes, "…the pie was opened and the birds began to sing".

Twelfth Night Cake
In England, the Twelfth Night cake was a rich and dense fruitcake which traditionally contained a bean. If you got the bean then you were King or Queen of the Bean and everyone had to do what you told them to do.

There were also other items in the cake:

If you got a clove you were a villain.
If you got a twig you were a fool.
If you got a rag you were a tarty girl.

Twelfth Night Plays
Twelfth Night itself was a traditional day for plays or "mummings," and it is thought that Shakespeare's play took its name from the fact that it was first performed as part of Twelfth Night celebrations about 1601. Read more about Mummings.

The Yule Log
The Yule log, lit on Christmas day, remained burning until Twelfth Night in order to bring good fortune to the house for the coming year. Its charred remains were kept, both to kindle the next year's Yule log, as well as to protect the house from fire and lightning.

Traditional Foods
Traditional Twelfth Night foods served in England include anything spicy or hot, like ginger snaps and spiced ale.

January 6 is Twelfth Day

Twelfth Day is the last day of Christmas and marks the end of the Christian festivals As its name tells us, it is the sixth of January - just twelve days after Christmas Day.

This day is the feast of Epiphany. On this day we remember the visit of the Wise Men to the infant Jesus.

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

I usually take it down shortly after New Year's Day, though I have been known to convert the tree into a Valentine's Day Tree on a whim. {{lol}}

venuscancer · Veteran Member

I'll take down the tree and lights the weekend of Jan 5th and 6th. The cats generally help with this and then they pout around because their hiding place is gone. It doesn't matter if you keep the lights all neat and tidy when you put them away, because next Christmas they will be all tangled when they are taken out. How does this happen? Can anyone explain?

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

venuscancer wrote:

I'll take down the tree and lights the weekend of Jan 5th and 6th. The cats generally help with this and then they pout around because their hiding place is gone. It doesn't matter if you keep the lights all neat and tidy when you put them away, because next Christmas they will be all tangled when they are taken out. How does this happen? Can anyone explain?

The elfs that take the missing socks tangle them up...

darleneapd · Cuff 'Em N' Stuff 'Em

MzHartz wrote:

venuscancer wrote:

I'll take down the tree and lights the weekend of Jan 5th and 6th. The cats generally help with this and then they pout around because their hiding place is gone. It doesn't matter if you keep the lights all neat and tidy when you put them away, because next Christmas they will be all tangled when they are taken out. How does this happen? Can anyone explain?

The elfs that take the missing socks tangle them up...

Pambo · Waiting To Be Widowed

At the risk of sounding Grinch-y...

If you never put them up, you never have to take them down.

Ruby · The Good Witch Of The South

My neighbor had there tree in last week's trash!