Why don't more people leave their Christmas lights on to help mitigate the post-Christmas gloom?

[PositivelyGlowing]

I know that not everyone loves Christmas and, to be honest, I also don't like the gross commercialism. However, one thing that I do love is all of the Christmas lights in shop and house windows and elsewhere; they bring a lot of cheer to the dark, cold winter evenings that seem to drag on forever.

So why do most people still feel the need to switch off and even remove all Christmas lights as soon as 'twelfth night' has passed?

I mean by all means remove the Christmas-specific decorations (Santa figures, reindeer, wreaths, etc) but why not leave the LED lights on until Spring? LED lights use barely any power so it's not going to add much to electricity bills.

Spending just a few pennies on electricity can bring a little cheer to not only you but anyone else passing a house with a few strings of lights in the window, garden, etc.

And yes, I leave my festive lights on until Spring, as do a handful of others in my area. 😀

Are you the same person as the one complaining about why the UK wasn’t like Sweden, and householders didn’t routinely light lamps in windows specifically to cheer up the street?

Ours are multi-coloured and too festive for this time of year, but I have caught myself thinking how nice it is that some in our street still have their warm white ones on, I wish I had bought some in the sales now to put up after NY. Maybe next year.

I like leaving them up but I also put my decorations up on Christmas eve and leave them up until candlemas.

I've still got my nice twinkly white ones up in the trees and on the eaves, the rainbow candy canes and disco reindeer I deemed a little too festive for January.

It's lovely and bright and sunny here today, and with temperatures of 11c it's almost springlike. A far cry from the gloom of November when it just gets darker and darker all month. I don't feel the need to keep lights up tbh.

I live in a small rural village with no street lights and have to admit to leaving my lights up. I have taken down the stars and the more Christmassy decorations and the tree but the lights around the house (warm white) and garage (pastel multi coloured ones) are left to add a bit of cheer. I should suspect some neighbours disagree with it but I like it so they are staying on for the time being.

Me too.

We leave out twinkly LED lights year long, inside the house, and outside. I put them on most early dark evenings, and turn off at bedtime. I have the LED colour changing lights on in 4 rooms in our house, every night. It's beautiful and lifts our spirits! They are not XMAS decos, they are WINTER decos ( and summer at ours) and we badly need a little brightness in our lives!

My across the road neighbours have only just taken them down - I think they were waiting for their gardener to do it. I'm a bit sad to see them go. I love 'winter' lights.

Because if they're up for ages, they don't feel very Christmas-y? Part of the excitement in the run up is that all the lights go up, and the darker nights are suddenly lit up.

A house a few streets away has constant LED lights on after dark. It's tastefully done but you stop noticing it, because they're always there. Nobody recommends them when people ask for beautiful lit up houses in local facebook groups, etc.

Not a lot of people do Christmas decorations here, though, there aren't inflatable Santas or reindeer or whatever, it's just lights on the houses. Everyone tends to close the shutters/blinds when it gets dark, too, so you'd only be lighting them up for people outside, you wouldn't see them inside.

So why do most people still feel the need to switch off and even remove all Christmas lights as soon as 'twelfth night' has passed

It is commonly believed to be 'bad luck' to keep Christmas lights up after 12th night. Now obviously, there's no causal link, but traditionally, people only have Christmas lights up at Christmas.

For everyone who thinks people should permanently festoon their homes with twinkly lights, there's probably as many people who'd judge them for not taking them down on time. They'll not win.

Because it's not Christmas anymore, I like things to be special and if you have stuff in the house for months it becomes mundane.
Also as a pp mentioned it is a beautiful, mild and sunny day today - I am more than happy with the sunlight streaming in through the window for the first time in months!

I still have some twinkly lights outside, just waiting for the batteries to run out.

My Christmas tree is still up!!

It is OK to keep them up until Candlemas!

www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/leaving-up-christmas-decorations/

I left my colourful lights that are around my window.
My autistic daughter has declared they are "Autism Sensory Lights" 😂😂

Me too! Though we put the decorations up before Christmas Eve. We go to Norway for Christmas and do it all again, changing from winter decor to Christmas decor on the 23rd - Lille Julaften. Then when we come home, we leave our original ones up.

Little celebration on Candlemas/Imbolc, and then it's up with nice spring things. The DC and I spend the weekends of January making bunting and things. Lots of flowers brought in, I use the wood from the Christmas tree for crafts, and any foliage that hasn't died gets turned into decorations, too. Always leave up twinkly lights year round, then change them for Christmas to different colours.

Dear God, no way. !!!

I absolutely love Christmas but if all my neighbours had left their stupid, fast flashing blue lights on any longer I would have had a nervous breakdown, there is nothing nice about them ! There is nothing cheery about them, All they look like is a crime scene!!

I think any multi coloured lights are too Christmas-sy but yes to warm white fairy lights all over the place!

(Although I am extremely biased as I have them all round my house due to hating "big" lights with a passion 😠)

DH is hugely superstitious and believes its bad luck to leave out any decs after the 6th Jan. I dread finding a forgotten ornament as every minor inconvenience after that will be attributed to said item. He's overwise very level headed though so I humor him 😂

Also when we had a power cut during the storms, ours was the only house which was still fully lit due to all the (battery powered) fairy lights and candles 😂

Because I’d have to put all my decorations in the loft then go up again to eventually put the lights away. I’d rather do it all at once.

I love walking the dogs in the dark with the lights still left up, apart from the ones that flash, I hate those.

I leave my lights up in the kitchen window year round, they cheer the place up when it's dark.

We still have the warm white lights up around our porch. Although we can’t really be seen from the road.

I’m planning on more warm white lights to go up around the windows inside next year that I can leave up for a while after Christmas. I have some battery candles at the moment but they aren’t quite the same.

After Christmas I got some lights for the mantel piece as i was missing them. It's really nice in the evenings when it's dark and cold out.