To have only just taken down my Christmas tree!?

[BillHadersNewWife]

In my defence, I have a lot of fragile glass ornaments on it...they're very old in some cases so taking down the tree means individually wrapping each ornament!

I just couldn't face it and before I knew it, it was the 16th! When did you take yours down? Has anyone still got one up?

27th December that is!

Oyster nothing wrong with fairy lights in your bush

I usually do 12th night but did it on the 3rd this year instead as Dh was around to help put it all away in the loft. I’ve left the fairy lights in the kitchen though. They look nice & the batteries still have loads of life in them as they’re a 6/18 timer. I’m hoping they’ll last until the clocks change then I’ll turn them off until October.

Who cares what others think. Our tree stays up till mid Jan as my partner loves it for his birthday when it's dark and misery and wintery.
One year it stayed up till Feb. Life is short. If it's pretty and makes you happy, why not.

New year's Eve for us.

My tree and decs came down on the 3rd in time for school and to have a few clear days before dd2s birthday. Although I still have my Christmas tablecloth on and have since found a couple of snowballs (fake ones, my house isn't that cold!).

I find it interesting that for the vast majority of people, Christmas in the UK seems to have moved into present giving and often excessive celebrations (except perhaps for those of a strong Christian / pagan faith). The original meaning of Christmas and it's associated behaviours seems to have largely been forgotten. ...and yet we have dates by which our decorated trees have to come down - it's aberrant nonsense to have a pick and mix set of arbitrary rules and even worse to quote / defend those rules.

6th jan here.

Ours came down on the 12th of January, we were away for the week before. I thought it was meant to stay up until at least 12th night, not that that was the last day it could come down?

Mine re coming down on Saturday....they did come down near years Day, but I put them back up last weekend as DD is home so we had a belated Christmas for her...even had a full on Christmas dinner on Tuesday.

re=are

All you people saying decorations "should" be down by the 6th... Why? It's not the law! I live in Europe and many people still have their trees and decorations up! I think they're cheerful! But then again, I like Christmas, unlike many it seems!

You should have kept it up and decorated for valentine's day.

Hoping that new trend stays across the pond the pinky trees look awful

Alwyn some tradition that I can't remember....people are superstitious about it. Something to do with the bible maybe? Since trees have their roots in Paganism though, I don't reckon Jesus would care.

We took ours down on the 5th but now have the lights around the dresser which pleases me every time I turn them on

ClashCityRocker that is genius 👍

I love Christmas but once it's done, it's done

Totally agree. It feels a bit sad to keep up Christmas decorations when you aren't feeling Christmassy and no one is celebrating it, the holidays are over and a New Year is well under way. The decs start to look a bit dusty and past their best in the cold light of day.

Each to their own but I love making the house all fresh and clean for a new year and putting a big bunch of flowers in the front room instead of the tree.
That said, I hate the winter and spring can't come soon enough for me.

Mine was down by 27th Dec - I'd got excited and put it up early in December and was sick of the sight of it by then!

My neighbours still have theirs up.

Mine is still up. It makes me happy in this otherwise miserable month

I didn't take mine down until the 12th, because I love the lights. I'm thinking of getting one of those lit-up twig arrangements for the rest of the year1

The 6th is because that is the day of Epiphany, when the 3 wise men visited the newborn baby Jesus. It's like his big reveal, I guess! The day that people saw Him for themselves and started spreading the news. So it marks a new beginning and I suppose that's why traditionally that's the date we take down the decorations.

But it's not the law, obviously

Mines still up, it makes me smile
On a cold winters evening. It will
Come down when I have my new floor layed so about 2 weeks.

My real tree looked beautiful this year, I was gutted to take it down, but it had started to wilt and there was someone collecting them for a donation to a local charity.

My dining room tree is still up.

Last year I kept my front door wreath and other bits about until Candlemas.

We still have our wreath! It still looks nice so I’m keeping it as long as possible. The tree starts dropping needles by 6th January so it has to come down.