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?

As usual, everyone is exaggerating- you don't have to have a tree up in November to want it down after Christmas Day.

Most people I know are more sociable in the lead up to the 25th, see a few family on Boxing Day, but are usually not doing anything festive whatsoever on 4/5/6th Jan.

Why is everyone going on about religious festivals, as that has very little to do with trees and presents? Churches worldwide celebrate Christmas at different times anyway, as they aren't even on the same dates, such as Orthodox, in fact, they don't even agree on the calendar year!

I have put the Christmas plates and glasses away but that is that until
New Year's Day.
FOI g away on 2nd for weekend and don't want to come back to all the decorations and gaffing with them before I go back to work. So a deep clean next Wednesday and pack for three days in the Big Smoke!

Because they have to compete with all the influencers on social media and make sure they’re one of the first to put their tree up… and the first to take it down. They do it for validation and attention seeking purposes! It’ll be Valentine’s stuff on the 2nd Jan when new year is over lol.

Why is everyone going on about religious festivals

Why oh why are people going on about religious festivals at Christmas eh? 😆

Why oh why are people going on about religious festivals at Christmas eh? 😆

I meant, of course, that the religious festival of Christmas is celebrated at different times and in different ways by the Christian church around the world, there's no one date they all agree on so even if you are mega-religious, this isn't a fixed event and it was shifted by the early Church anyway. Oh lordy!

So do I

Then they'll be moaning about how long and dark end of December/ January is...

A twig fight might do it, but I’m all in for fires.

There was another old tradition where the Christmas greenery stayed up till Candlemas. See Robert Herrick's poem "Down with the rosemaries and bays".

I agree that there seems to be a bit of a generational difference here- with it primarily being older people who observe 12 days of Christmas and younger people tending to get their decorations up in November and down before NYE. I'm guessing you are a lot younger than me - my adult DC thinks like you do.

December and January aren’t long and dark months - you don’t need Christmas lights to enjoy them. Too many people lock themselves inside rather than getting outside and enjoying themselves.

Mine will be the weekend, work commitments, kids etc means no other time.
However I'm itching to do it now everything suddenly feels cluttered and feeling over whelmed by it all

Goodness, no! It only went up on the 24th. Christmas only started yesterday. I cannot imagine Hogmanay without a tree, tbh! It'll come down on Twelfth Night.

I would keep it until Candlemas if DH would agree!

As I said they’re winter family habits/customs and they sound good fun, but nothing to do with Christmas means the mass for the Messiah.

I've also never had mine up after nye. I can't stand starting the NY with a big task of taking the trees down and all the other stuff. I like it clear

Be careful. Those of us who like it clear for going back to work are weird, miserable and joyless apparently.

Appropriate time is subjective. Hence how long this thread is.

Ours is up until Monday, we still have guests coming over until then! Taking the tree down on Boxing Day is just plain miserable.

Why is it miserable today but not on Monday?

! Definitely not Christmas is just starting! The 12 days of Christmas.

As I have said they are the Christmas traditions for our family. Christmas traditions which have been passed down generations and will likely continue with the DC’s doing the same for their Christmas.

Obviously you can have your own Christmas traditions which are unique to your family. What special Christmas traditions do you have?

Of course they are. Anyway I didn't say December, I said January and February. There's not the phrase, "January blues" for no reason. SAD can be worse at this time of the year when there's so little daylight.

Plus people are often skint after Christmas, it's a long time until payday and there's a slowdown in socialising with others, and the days are short.

The weather is often shitty too.

I make my house cosy with lots of lamps and cosy lighting but there's something so lovely about the sparkle of Christmas.

Going out for a walk doesn't change that!

The slow down of socialising isn't necessarily a bad thing. It allows for a recharge, time with your household/family, me time etc.

Or you could socialise differently. Just coffee catch ups, time in each others homes and so on. Not everything needs to be as "festive" as Christmas plans to be joyful. It's all about how you look at it.

Only put it up on the 23rd would be a bit of a waste to take it down already!

Don't forget apparently we're all social media influencers who do it for attention according to @Mumofnarnia

Not sure if you’re being intentionally obtuse or you genuinely can’t understand. Christmas traditions are traditions that relate to Christmas - these are just traditional family activities in December.