How many people here have taken down the Christmas trees and lights.

[texanwitch]

We haven't here at the beach or at the house.

I really miss the lights when they are gone.

I feel the need to burn candles in January, I buy them really after Christmas is over.

[yellowdogintexas]

1. not yet. still have red and white candy canes in my yard. Lots of lights

still up around here. I may yank the candy canes up this weekend. We need to start undecorating the tree; it takes all day.

[lizziegrace]

2. My decorations stay up until Epiphany

with all the lights lit. After that, it's a matter of when I have time to pack everything up.

I burn a lot of candles in the winter. It's so gray and overcast here and the nights are so long. :(

[Critters2]

5. Epiphany here too. When the magi arrive, I want them to enjoy

the lights like everyone else! :)

[texanwitch]

6. I like the idea of waiting until then.

I find burning candles really nice in the winter months, I bought enoungh the last 3 years after Christmas to last 10 years.

It is hard to turn down 75 and 90 percent off candles.


I went to Walgreens today and bought more for 90 percent off.

Always good for hurricanes to.

[Gormy Cuss]

13. Another one using Epiphany as the take-down date

but sometimes they're up until mid-January if I don't get around to it.

[Capn Sunshine]

17. when is that?

I'm familiar with the term , but vaguely . My tree is up still, but it's so crispy...I'mafraid to light it up

[regnaD kciN]

20. Epiphany is January 6th in the western calendar...

(The eastern calendar, used by the Orthodox, is hard to tell, because they used to have Christmas on January 7th and Epiphany twelve days later, but many national Orthodox churches have shifted the calendar to match that of the west.)

In any event, Epiphany is considered the commemoration of the visit of the Magi (i.e. the "three kings" of legend) in the western Church. In the eastern Church, it commemorates three different events: the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus by John, and the turning of water into wine at the wedding at Cana; essentially, it serves as a "flash-forward" from Jesus's infancy to the beginning of his adult ministry.

I hope that long-winded explanation isn't too confusing.

[regnaD kciN]

19. Same here...

...although I would note that under the medieval "Sarum Rite" (the practice at England's Salisbury Cathedral, which became a liturgical standard for many in England), Christmas ran until the Feast of the Purification on February 2nd. In some past years, my parish kept the crèche on display until then, but we have a new priest and I have no idea if she'll do the same. If so, it will be a really short time (three days) between the end of Sarum-Rite Christmas and the beginning of Lent.

[tjwmason]

37. The tree comes down at Epiphany

But the Nativity scene stays in situ until 2 February.

[Depressed Since 2000]

39. Epiphany also. On Jan. 6th we would find candy in our shoes.

My father referred to this date as "Little Christmas." I don't know where this family tradition came from, and my parents are long gone, so I will probably never know.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear texanwitch!

Yup...everything's down!

I miss them too...but...

I like having my space back to normal...

:hug:

[texanwitch]

4. The lights at the house will be up for at least a month.

It takes awhile to get them down and easy to get to next year.

I learn that the hard way.

[VenusRising]

7. I took them all down Jan 2.

We didn't have much up and the cat was having far too much fun with the tree.

[texanwitch]

9. Cats and trees.

Our cats liked the tree also, but the dogs protect it for some reason.

It is funny to watch the dogs keeping a eye on the cats getting to close to the tree.

[VenusRising]

11. We had a small 3 foot tree.

I put it on top of our bookcase in front of the window. The car would jump up there and paw at these little silver bells I hung on the tree. He just LOVED the fact they made a little tinkling sound. :eyes:

Nutty cat.

[puerco-bellies]

8. We did yesterday.

With the rains coming I thought it best.

[texanwitch]

10. With all the wind you might not have any lights left.

Hope you stay safe.

[yewberry]

12. My husband took everything down while I was at work on New Year's Eve.

I appreciate the effort, though it was a little too soon for me.

He meant well, and that's what matters.

[Der Blaue Engel]

14. I usually wait until Epiphany

But since I've been learning Russian, I think this year I'll wait until the Theophany on January 19. (I'll take any excuse to keep them up as long as possible.) :D

[Rhythm]

15. We're keeping ours up until February...

Because we had a friend occupying our couch, we didn't have room to get our tree and stuff put up until the week before Christmas, so we decided to keep it up for a while and enjoy it.

[regnaD kciN]

21. Wow...a Sarum-Rite agnostic!

;-)

[Common Sense Party]

16. My wife did so last weekend. Surprised me.

But, after three+ weeks, it was time to move on.

[Broken_Hero]

18. Yeah, took them down on the second of Jan. nt

[NMDemDist2]

22. mine were down the Sunday after Xmas

my company was gone and I wanted my house back before hubby started his new job the 2nd

they were up all of December though and we enjoyed them

[lost-in-nj]

23. Outside lights came down yesterday

tree comes down this weekend...

didn't want to put it up in the first place....



lost

[trof]

24. Christmas tree becomes Mardi Gras tree.

Miz t. takes the Christmas decorations off, leaves the lights, then redecorates with Mardi Gras stuff.
Big party coming up Feb. 2.

[bigwillq]

25. We have

New Year's Day night everything came down.

[Phentex]

26. Today's the day...

place always seems so plain without all the xmas crap. :)

[Orsino]

27. We did, on New Year's Day.

My wife declared a housecleaning project, and we also packed away the tree and wreath.

One of my neighbors still had a big display lit last night.

[rateyes]

28. Yes. New Year's Day. nt

[SPKrazy]

29. My tree just came down

now to put the ornaments up

Wasn't up long

wasn't looked at much except by me

:shrug:

I had it anyway

[distantearlywarning]

30. We did, on New Year's Day. n/t

[femmocrat]

31. I just finished.

:woohoo: :bounce:

That is a chore that fortunately comes but once a year.

[Rabrrrrrr]

32. I wait until Christmas is over, and then at some point, I take them down.

So, no, mine are not down yet - sometime after tomorrow.

[Arugula Latte]

33. Decorations BE GONE! Get OUT of my living room and take your EEEEVIL with you!

We get sick of Xmas BEFORE Xmas, so we can't wait to box everything back up and stick it back up in the attic. It has been put away for several days. :woohoo:

[MorningGlow]

34. Doing the tree today

Took the quite dry greenery off the mantel in time for garbage day this past week because one of our cats was chewing on it, swallowing some dry needles, and barfing all over the place. (Such a rocket scientist he is...)

The fake greenery (garlands over the doorways) will stay up for a while, as will the lights on the mantel and banister and my dragon altar in the dining room, just because they boost the mood of the house in the dead of winter. I'm itching to get rid of the (real, and by now, dead) greenery around the front door, and the wreath...maybe this week's garbage day. Dunno. They're the only outdoor decorations we have, aside from the fake candles in the front windows, so I feel like they should stay up another week or two, even though the dry garland gets in the way of the screen door.

[Flaxbee]

35. Well, Russia celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7, and

we have lots and lots of Russian friends, so the tree is still up.

Also, the tree is PINK, and about 4' tall, and the cats love it, so I think it might become a Valentine's tree -- I'm looking for a heart to put on the top of the tree instead of the star ;-)

[TrogL]

36. On December 27th

I don't have a huge living room so I need the tree out of the way. I've still got a few geegaws out like a nativity scene perched on one of the TV's (yes, I have two - one for captioning).

I keep the outdoor lights up all year 'cause they double as security lights.

[Coyote_Bandit]

38. Never put them up

Nothing to celebrate.

Glad I didn't. Yesterday I got a $250 gas bill for the month of December. My bill was less than $50 in November and in the past 6 years has never topped $125. This year I burned the gas logs in the fireplace non-stop for over a week while my electricity was out. Also got bronchitis while shivering in the cold. Still need to clean out and toss the food in the two freezers. The good news is that my elecrtric bill should be lower - but probably not a whole lot since I have a gas furnace. Bah humbug.

Glad somebody enjoyed the holidays this year.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

40. I didn't put any up, but a lot of people here leave theirs up all winter

Author Calvin Trillin once wrote about proposing a "Santa in the Crocuses" Award for such people.

[libodem]

41. That's what I should be doing instead of lurking in the lounge

maybe your post is a cosmic hint.