to think Christmas finishes by New Year?

[PineappleDanish]

Lots of threads about people taking down their decorations to be met with a flurry of "oh no, Christmas only STARTS on the 25th and runs to 6th Jan!"

This wasn't a thing when I was little, decorations always went up around mid-December, down either just before New Year or just after. I don't think I knew anyone who did the 12th night thing, and Epiphany wasn't a word I ever heard anyone use in my church going family. Just not a "thing".

Is this regional? Is keeping your decorations up to 6th Jan a more "English" thing while us Scots, Irish and Welsh are more focused on the new year hoolie? Or is it a Catholic/Protestant tradition thing given that many southern european catholic countries like Italy and Spain traditionally celebrate Epiphany and the three wise men bringing gifts rather than Santa Claus?

YABU - of course Christmas starts on 24th dec and isn't over until 6th Jan

YANBU - starts at some point in December, done and dusted by 27th.

Never take mine down before Hogmanay, that would be weird.

We put ourselves up about 12 days before,and keep them12 days after Christmas day. Massive little Christmas events where we live, mostly involved country and western nites in local pubs. Some neighbours decorate on toy show night, which is when Christmas officially begins in Ireland, surely

English, non religious. Decorations go up whatever weekend in December that we have the time (somewhere in the middle usually), down on the 6th Jan.
Spent a couple of years living in Spain and 6th jan was the main celebration!
DC go back to school on the 7th this year so taking them down on the 6th is perfect.

6th of January. Just in time for the next round of birthdays.

Decorations may last a bit longer, but are usually only put up a week before the 25th December.

I loathe the decorations coming down prematurely and having to endure those extra days of January in joyless gloom. There's already enough gloom in January with little else imminent to look forwards to, and it takes a few weeks to feel the benefit of lengthening days.

Decorations up at some time during Advent 1st December or 4th Sunday before Christmas. Down on the 6th.

There's a photo of me getting ready for my first day of school by the Christmas tree on 6th Jan.

Having DCs cramping my social life means New Year is a damp squib of a celebration anyway. New Year with no decorations would make for a very unfestive night of crap TV.

Keep Christmas in the mid-winter where it belongs.

I'm in my 50's, as a child the trees went up as the schools were breaking up, or Christmas Eve. There was an Advent Church Service but the decorations were natural and they merged with the harvest festival ones, just a bit more wintery. The Epiphany was observed and we still did Candlemas in Church, February 2nd. Some people kept their natural decorations, outside wreaths etc up until then.

My Brownie pack was affiliated with a Catholic Church.

It is traditionally the Epiphany but we usually take them down earlier if we are away for New Year and back at work (or children were back at school) before the 6th. We still have Christmas drinks and meals locally until the Epiphany.

Church wise Christmas ends at Candlemas - forty days after Christmas at beginning of February but I’d not want decorations up until then. The Queen does, I believe.

Advent candles first, with one more added on every Advent Sunday. Christmas tree and decorations are put up on the 24th and taken down on January 6th.

For (some?) Latin rite Catholics the Christmas season lasts 40 days and ends on February 2 with the feast of Candlemas, as prior to liturgical reforms in the late 1960s.

I was brought up in a home where we took the decorations down on the 12th night.

However I usually take mine down about the second of Jan.

6th is way too late for me. Kids Back at school and decs up is just wrong. I take down New Year’s Eve. Like a fresh start for new year

Christmas finishes the day the DC go back to school.

And yes, traditionally Christmas finishes on Twelfth Night, 6th January.

Our decorations go up when we have a free afternoon but they always stay up until 6th Jan. The advent candle comes out at the start of advent too.

I don't like having them up for too long, so anything before actual advent is way too early for me.

Don't give any thought to what others do, decorations up mid December, down on 1/2 of January. Certainly never wanted to be looking at them still when the children were young and returned to school.
Not religious so couldn't give a hoot about the 6th.

Mine came down today. Went up on the 15th. Of December by the way, just less than 2 weeks. Keeps it special and something we all look forward to but I’ve had enough of it all now.
We go away on holiday tomorrow as we do at the same time every year so it’s a nice way to do it and lovely to come home to.

Decorations up the weekend before Christmas and down on 12th night (or nowadays about 30 mins before the recyclers turn up for it). I'm Scottish Presbyterian and didn't know anything about Epiphany. But New Year celebrations went on for days at home and everyone had their decorations up for that.

Historically my grandfather worked on Christmas Day (he was a banker) and my father got his presents on New Years Day.

Yanbu, i took my Christmas tree down yesterday 27/12

The house decorations are still up though

12th night was not part of what I heard in Church/school growing up.

You didn't hear anything in church about the wise men bearing gifts? This is the feast of the epiphany: the last day of Christmas. January 6th in the western calendar.

Have you never sung "The Twelve Days of Christmas"?

I'm from an English atheist household and we always kept them up till the 6th as a child and continue to do so.

DH and I had our first kiss on the last night - in an English town square where the trees were still full of Christmas lights, and everywhere we have celebrated the anniversary of our relationship the Christmas decorations have still been up.

When I was a kid we always left them up until Epiphany so we still do the same now. There are loads of people in my FB feed who have taken theirs down (no wonder they are fed up of them- they put them up in -November!).

Not hugely religious but decs are up to 12th Night here.

Can’t abide starting a new year with Christmas decs up so they come down by 31 Dec or sooner if no time that day. New year needs to start off fresh and clear of clutter (unlike the rest of the year in this house )

My parents were teachers, and DM hated the idea of taking the decorations down to go back to work.
She would leave them up for a week or two to ease herself back into it. She had to go to work, but at least when she came home it would still feel like Christmas with decorations, chocolates, and Christmas food.

Only people who seem to take their decorations down early seem to be the same ones who put it up stupidly early back in November.
I put ours up on the 20th Dec and down on the 6th Jan.

Personally I like to take my decs down on NYE. It is part of a clearing ritual where I dust away the old year and welcome in the new with fresh eyes. Been doing it this way for 20 years.