Why do people put their Xmas trees etc up now then take them down Boxing Day

Don’t be ridiculous… No one sustains Christmas excitement for two months solid. Having Christmas decorations up in early November is very weird in my opinion.

Social fucking media, advertising, people being sheep. It’s all a bit depressing isn’t it?! Last week I got an email from Marks & Spencer (I’m only in their mailing list to see when their jeans go on sale) proudly announcing that their Christmas ad is now available FFS. (Yes, grumpy old bugger here, but that’s because I’m ND so I question everything and don’t just blindly accept whatever bullshit is fed to me!)

Genuine question because I'm curious: do you think it might be generational? Without being so rude as to ask your age I know a lot of MNers are round about their thirties, the generation after mine, and these past few years I've been noticing that the notion of when Christmas starts and finishes really does seem different among generations younger than my own. Just as no one you know holds on to their tree for long after Christmas, most of my friends and DH's still seem to be keeping theirs up until New Year's Day at least, or till twelfth night as we do. It's interesting to me because it suggests all sorts of social cues must have changed over the years. Not suggesting either side is 'better', I think we all just know how we personally prefer to celebrate it.

helpplease4

That sounds loveky,getting the spring candle’s and lights out after you have put the tree away! What are they like please??

They are the sort of people who HAVE to be first with everything. Then, when it’s actually the appropriate time for something ,they get bored and look for the next thing.

It must be like living in one of those all-year-round Christmas shops.

Yes stroppy! Lots of inverted comma use!

Look I like to see outside decorations but not from the beginning of November! Decorate the inside of your house as early as you want but the specialness of Christmas should be in December.

The lights can become a pain in the arse as well, when I took my tree down last year, it unblocked my view of my neighbours flashing lights around his car port which was annoying to see that in the corner of my every night until new year.

It also annoys me when people don't take them down! There's a number of houses on my estate whose icicle lights are up and swinging in the breeze all year until they get turned on again
Some people even leave Santa shaped lights stick to their houses all year round.

I love the run up to Xmas and always have done so my tree will go up 29th/30th November and it's usually down and a good spring clean done on 28th/29th December so the house is all ready for a New Year.

It's each to their own and we don't know what's going on behind closed doors so I don't judge anyone

What are you on about?

you said surely the novelty wears off. I said I don't need them to be a 'novelty'

there was nothing arsey about my post.

AutumnCosy2025 · Yesterday 22:23

FlyMeSomewhere · Yesterday 20:54
I definitely don't, 1st Dec for me. But for those that do put them up 1st Nov it's got to be a novelty worn off by the time they've had them up nearly two months

My reply;
I don't need them to be a 'novelty'.
I put them up because I like them, I enjoy the light my traditional lights give off, I enjoy my decorations gathered over the years, the memories they bring back.
'Novelty' doesn't come into it.

It sounded like you was having a pop at me for using the word novelty as though I was wrong to say it. I just re read the post you made and it was definitely arsey and defensive!

Absolutely, I know for some people everyday is another family party and indulgence on the cats between Xmas & New year but for many there's isn't a lot family left alive. I'll still enjoying watching Xmas telly whilst sat with my laptop working on those in between days though 😊

I'm being sensitive?? 🤣🤣

You're being 'EXTRA'.

I'm well aware what the word 'novelty' means. I explained I don't put them up as a 'novelty' I put them up because I enjoy them.

I take them down because I choose to put up other decor that pleases me,

By all the police we have with nothing to do....

or maybe oona is looking for work??

🤣🤣

Visual pollution 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Funny you should mention entitled in the same sentence as ordering people to stay in their homes if they don't want to see ugly outdoor displays.

Tbf I disagree with pp that they shouldn't be allowed - everyone should get to decorate (or not) as they see fit - but we don't all have to like it (and I particularly abhor flashing lights and those awful blue lights, which don't say Christmas to me at all). Personally I think less is more when it comes to outdoor Christmas lighting, but I seem to be in the minority these days.

Blimey.

im glad you don't get to make the laws in this country. If you'd make this illegal I'd hate to think what else you want to control.

I think a lot of it depends, as well as whether people are working the days in between, whether they enjoy the feel of the days between Christmas and New Year, that sort of 'limbo' feel. Personally I love it, after Christmas Day it's the best part of the festive season for me, but I do realise it probably wouldn't feel as special if I wasn't able to take time off work.

It's interesting reading what everyone does. I usually start Christmas around two weeks before (get the tree up by 11th Dec) and take it down on 6th, but I have a tendency to keep using the fairy lights on the window for a while as it's dark and it makes the bedrooms look lovely. The kids have a tree in their rooms too, DS15 didn't take it down last year, but he switched the lights back on the other day and was like "I'm ready early". He's autistic and it makes him happy to just keep his little tree there. I don't properly think about Christmas until a couple of days before, and DH says I keep the Christmas treats hidden away for too long

Christmas was about feasting. I think that you need to look up the origins, as a Pagan celebration.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas

If you aren't a practising Christian, they are doing Christmas properly. It was all about the decorating and eating, even when the Church finally recognised Christmas, because they couldn't scare the pagans out of celebrating.

You're being hypersensitive here! Of course it's a novelty to put decorations up! When people are going into these Xmas shops every year and buying new decorations to add to their house, it's a novelty, you give a kid a Christmas present they play with it straight away because it's a novelty but that novelty eventually wears off! Do you think if everybody had decorations still up in April that it would still be a novelty! Things feeling a novelty is part of human life!

I love travelling but if I did it constantly, it wouldn't feel like a treat, it wouldn't feel as exciting, I'd get sick of airports and flights - because travelling & going to a new place is a novelty but if I did it every day of my life, it's not going to be so novel and would become more of a chore. People don't cover the outside of their houses in lights for any sentimentality, it's novelty and often contest with other neighbours.

Don’t be such a misery , if you don’t want to see it then stay in your house , other people are entitled to do what they like on their own property .

How would it be enforced?

Inside their homes, fair enough. But not the extravagant displays outside homes, in gardens, on rooftops etc. Those are just visual pollution and need to be cracked down on.

It seems odd to me, too.

There are traditionally 12 days of Christmas, with Christmas Day being the first day and January 5th the last day.

When I was a child, everyone kept their trees and decorations up until January 5th, regardless of when they had put them up.

Most people I knew would put up their Christmas tree about a week before Christmas - and that's what I still do.

That's just ridiculous. If you want to stick to traditions, that's absolutely fine but you can't force everyone else to do the same and especially in their own homes.