When Should I Take Down Christmas Tree & Decorations?

[orleans]

i took the four strings of lights out of the front yard, but i still have christmas in the house/living room. my daughter likes the tree lights, but we have other colored/christmas lights around the house we leave up all year.

it's an artificial tree--so it's not like needles are covering the floor. but i just can't seem to get inspired enuf to get to work on it.

(we didn't do decorations until a week before christmas--so it hasn't been up for even a month yet)

[SPKrazy]

1. who cares?

:rofl:

j/k

I still have to put up my ornaments in the boxes they came from and I can't motivate myself to do that

[Kutjara]

2. You're too late, and only disaster will ensue.

Decorations should not be put up until Christmas Eve and the must be taken down on December 6 (the Twelfth Day of Christmas). Failure to do so may result in all sorts of karmic nastiness and ill fortune for the coming year.

But don't despair! A one-time donation to Kutjara Christmas Bad Joo-joo Begone Enterprises will whisk away all the nastiness fate has in store for the next year. The amount of ill omen removed depends on the size of the donation. To be really sure of a happy year, unmarred by misfortune, please give generously.

[texas1928]

8. Uh, How do you put them up Christmas Eve...

And take them down 2 and a half weeks before you put them up?

*scratches head*

Fuzzy math.

[Kutjara]

9. Bah! I was in such a hurry to pick the OP's pocket...

...I didn't bother to proofread my post. It would have worked, too, if it wasn't for you meddlesome kids!

Actually, the math I can never get my head around is, if Dec 25 is the first day of Christmas, how can Jan 6 be the twelfth? Surely the 6th is the thirteenth day? Unless it's some Hebrew calendar sundown-to-sundown thing and Christmas Day only really begins at nightfall on the 25th.

[texas1928]

15. Slaps me around and calls me Susan...

:shrug:

[lildreamer316]

3. I just took mine down today.

I'm lazy.

[Fox Mulder]

4. There are a lot of houses where people still have their Christmas...

trees up here.

You should be fine. :)

[Westegg]

5. Next year, start a bit earlier...

...It is my feeling that December 9 is the right day to put up the tree, etc. You then have two weeks (and two days) to dig it in the full Christmas spirit, plus it HAS to stay up through New Years because it's the HOLIDAY SEASON after all, and much good cheer could result from a possible New Year's party in front of a lighted and tinseled (but obviously drying) Christmas tree (your obligation to water the tree does NOT end on the 26th). January the 4th is the best day to pack it all in and recycle the tree. You can stretch it to the 5th if you have to. Beyond that, it just seems like you're waiting for somethin' ain't gonna come.

[orleans]

7. well, if it seems like i'm waiting for something i guess it's that i'm

waiting for someone to take the tree down for me so i don't have to do it

on edit: i KNOW that ain't happening. so i guess i'm waiting for the spirit to MOVE me

[yellowdogintexas]

6. we just got ours down this past weekend. nt

[madrchsod]

10. i moved my tree outside and it`s plugged in

and the lights on the bushs will stay until i get around to taking them down probably in the spring

[Adsos Letter]

11. we are supposed to take them down...?

who knew? :shrug:

[Hellenic_Pagan]

12. Hey...

Isay leave it up.

I mean your kid likes it.

Its a plastic tree.

So leave it up.

You could change the decorations on it from a winter/yule/christmas/whatever theme to each season - like eggs for spring.

I dont really see the point of putting it up if your kid likes it and you dont wanna go to the bother of putting it up.

[Zoigal]

13. Hey, take it down when you feel like it. z

[Glorfindel]

14. Never before New Year's Day (very bad luck!)

The best possible time is the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, January 6th. Boxing Day, the Feast of St. Stephen (the day after Christmas), is the first day of Christmas; therefore, January 6th is the twelfth day of Christmas, when, by tradition, the Magi visited Jesus and he was thereby made manifest to the gentiles.

[MissMillie]

16. last week

actually 2 weeks ago

[av8rdave]

17. If your tree is STILL up then the terrorists have already won

[qb]

18. Wait until all of the needles fall out.

It's less of a mess carrying it through the house and out the door.

On edit... just reread OP ("artificial"). Still, I think it's good advice.

[rateyes]

19. You haven't taken them down late...

you just have an early start on next year.

[Sentath]

20. Just Before

You have to dust them ( :

[Maddy McCall]

21. Ash Wednesday.

As good a day as any. Throw up a few purple, gold, and green lights and call your decorations Mardi Gras.

:)

[kwassa]

22. 4th of July, then haul that dry tree outside and turn it into a firework.

[Rhythm]

23. I just took ours down last weekend...

Well... almost all of the house decorations, anyway.

It was pointed out to me that the fake mistletoe is still hanging in the archway that leads to the dining room.

Oops...

[marlakay]

24. Take a little down each day

We did extra decorating this year because kids and grandkids came and so much to undo and don't feel like doing it after work or on day off. So we have been doing a little each day and right now about 80% is gone.