The Christmas tree is down!

[ILikeMySuitcase]

Just taken down the main living room tree, absolute workout getting it back in the box and as usual I found a couple of stars once I'd packed away the decorations.

Trying to get all the trees down today so I can deep clean the house before New Years.

Anyone else just want their space back and taking decorations down today?

The green triangles are the best

They're not specific to atheists though? So why make that distinction?

To everyone saying it's still Christmas ?? Why Christmas Day is over
Christmas as a season lasts for 12 days starting Christmas Day, the time before Christmas is advent - traditionally a time of preparation involving fasting etc the commercialisation of Christmas means people celebrate during December so they’re done with it all by “the big day” but really Christmas Day is the start of Christmas, not the end.

Pretty much the same as everyone else then.

They have the monopoly on Christmas traditions as they actually celebrate Christmas.

Atheists have a laugh but it’s just a holiday season.

Just like people rushed on to tell OP how miserable and joyless she is?

Ours came down this morning, thank fuck. The bloody thing had been up for 3 weeks as the children wanted it. I absolutely detest Christmas, it’s only for the children and Don’t worry, I put on a good act.

Sod the lot of you going on about Halloween decorations. I bloody love Halloween, I decorate from October 1st and it culminates in a big Halloween party.

Oh, and I am religious. Church on Christmas morning, never out of the bloody place in December wirh all the things going on. It has fuck all bearing on Christmas trees being up or any of the other nonsense.

It's retail that has done that. They'll be putting the Easter eggs out soon. They're pushing everything forward to try to increase sales.
I stick with the tradition of tree up the weekend before Christmas until after New Year. I must admit I used to take the tree and decorations down on 6th January but now it's the 1st or 2nd.
I think it's nice to keep the Christmas atmosphere while the kids are on holiday.
I can see why you would want it all gone if it's been there since November though.

I’m not - these are some of our traditions. Others will have different ones. Christians would probably include church services or other religious events.

Sounds idyllic. I love the Nutcracker!

For me the winter solstice season starts with a personal tradition of staying the weekend with friends in the magical city of York, and ends on New Year's Day having celebrated with those same friends in one or the other of our homes.

My own spirituality is very different from the Christian variety. I observe winter solstice/Yule quietly and love the calming energy in the days leading up to Christmas Eve. There are no obligations of observation anywhere in that tradition - people do what makes them happy and I'm all for that.

Tree up 1st weekend in December and usually down around 30th, when we go off to our friends'. January 6 doesn't feature on my calendar except as a normal day: to me it's well and truly over by then and time to look forward to the lengthening of the days and the coming of Imbolc.

If others want their tree up in November, fine! (Although I'd draw the line at commercial entitles putting theirs up in August). Different does not equal bad and it isn't affecting me one iota. But people never fail to queue up to tell others they're doing it wrongly. Who cares? Be as happy as your situation permits - goodness knows that's in short enough supply.

Mine has been up for 8 days so I won't take it down yet.

You don’t have to do Christmas shopping in November - I don’t anymore than I would buy Easter eggs in January or February. Our tree doesn’t go up until mid December (not this year as we are away).

Keep mine up till 12th night 😊😊

Bearing in mind that the etymology of sacrifice is to make holy. 🤓

Sounds more heathen than strictly atheist.

My late auntie and uncle always put their Christmas tree up on 1st December and took it down on Boxing Day. 'It's not Christmas any more', they would loftily declare as their reason.

Well they not Christmas traditions as they’re nothing to do with Christmas. They’re winter family activities, just as people have typical summer habits.

Oh bloody hell. Now we have to make set of rigid rules involving the only proper and correct way to display twigs to set the atheists and heathens against each other. At least our fight will probably end in a bloody great fire which will then get consumed into someone else’s winter festival.

They are our traditions which we do at Christmas time. They mean Christmas to us. DH did them with his parents and grandparents growing up so they became our Christmas traditions when we moved to Canada.

Noticed a correlation between FB friends putting up their tree early (before mid Nov) and them having tree down by end of the year.

So far a quarter of these friends have put their tree and decs down.

Why put it up that early then?

I’m certainly not taking my tree down only three days after it went up! All that effort for such a short time would seem daft!

Because they have to have everything early. Always on to the next thing and can’t seam to wait for the appropriate time for things.

My decorations normally go up around 15 December and come down 5th January. I don't have many this year as I need to take them down today/tomorrow as I'm going away tomorrow afternoon and won't be back until later in January. It doesn't feel right to lose them this early so I've got a little paper tree in my suitcase!

Perhaps they wanted to?

Do any of you going on about 12th night, and it being a Christian festival actually go to church? Celebrate advent? Or are you just trying to goad people who don't do what you do?

A tree has no meaning on actual Christmas. A nativity scene has more meaning but I doubt many people would have one of them up.

As a child our tree never went up before Christmas eve, we used to have an advent wreath and my mum would light a candle each week until all 4 were lit representing the 4 Sundays of advent.

I remember as a child looking longingly at the Christmas trees and decorations on the TV programmes after 29th December because mum had already taken ours down and deep cleaned. I deliberately buy a real tree very close to Christmas so it stays fresh until the 6th January. Same with the door wreath. Also means I don't get sick of looking at it.