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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

When to take down Christmas decorations?

96 replies

ProcrastinatingUntilNextYear · 05/01/2023 10:12

I’ve had so much bad luck that I don’t want to risk anymore and so I want to take down the Christmas decorations on the ‘right’ day this year. Do they come down today (5th) or tomorrow 6th?

YABU - they come down tomorrow (6th)
YANBU - they come down today (5th)

OP posts:
meditrina · 05/01/2023 10:34

If you're being traditional:

They come down after Twelfth Night. That's today - so they come down after today, ie tomorrow (which also happens to match Epiphany)

Or they stay up until Candlemas (which is also a better match for the extent of pagan Yule)

Joystir59 · 05/01/2023 10:35

I mean 27/12/2022

Letshaveablackcelebration22 · 05/01/2023 10:35

As soon as I can get away with it with the kids after Xmas- usually around the 30th though & deffo before new year! It’s weird to still have them up in a new year I think!

DappledThings · 05/01/2023 10:36

Twelfth Night is tonight so tomorrow being the first day of not-Christmas is when I take them down. (And yes I judge people who take them down early and I am happy to own how unreasonable that is).

Nothing to do with bad luck though.

ShirleywasaLady · 05/01/2023 10:36

Ours are coming down tonight. It always seems strange to me that people are so desperate to get them down, I love them being up!

TotallyAverage · 05/01/2023 10:37

It’s weird to still have them up in a new year I think!

I think it's weird not to!

I don't really know why but the idea of taking them down really quickly after Christmas makes me feel a bit sad. Each to their own but I like having mine up until at least the first week of January. I think I just don't really want Christmas to be over!

DappledThings · 05/01/2023 10:37

They come down after Twelfth Night. That's today - so they come down after today, ie tomorrow (which also happens to match Epiphany)
It doesn't happen to match Epiphany. There are 12 days of Christmas and then the next festival is Epiphany. It's design, not coincidence.

TheLeadbetterLife · 05/01/2023 10:39

meditrina · 05/01/2023 10:34

If you're being traditional:

They come down after Twelfth Night. That's today - so they come down after today, ie tomorrow (which also happens to match Epiphany)

Or they stay up until Candlemas (which is also a better match for the extent of pagan Yule)

This is my understanding too, and what I grew up with. I take mine down on the 6th.

I leave one thing up all year for luck (not that I believe in luck, but it’s a fun tradition that my mum used to do). It was a bunch of mistletoe when I lived in the U.K., now it’s a Yule log that I make out of an olive branch. I’ll burn it when I put the new one up at solstice in December.

ISaidDontLickTheBin · 05/01/2023 10:39

We always do it before school goes back, but colleagues tell me it should be tomorrow

happystory · 05/01/2023 10:43

Ours are down. DH's birthday on Jan 1st then they go!

Original poster
ProcrastinatingUntilNextYear · 05/01/2023 10:43

Anisina · 05/01/2023 10:19

Taking your Christmas decorations down early will not bring you bad luck. Do you think that people who had bad things happen to them last year wouldn't have had those things happen if only they had left the decorations up a few more days?

No I don’t think that.
It’s just like any superstition, I don’t want to take my chances this year! I just want to do it the traditional way this year and see how my year goes. No harm in that.

OP posts:
Fremdschämen · 05/01/2023 10:43

As soon as you want them to come down!

UndertheCedartree · 05/01/2023 10:44

I keep ours up untill Kings Day when they leave a book and chocolate kings under the tree for the DC. Then I pack away.

cantkeepawayforever · 05/01/2023 10:46

12th Night is tonight. Traditionally, we put them up on Christmas Eve afternoon and down on 12th Night, so just the 12 days. Now we tend to put them up the first day that everyone is broken up / home for Christmas, usually around 19th /20th. I can see that if you put them up early in December, then getting them down early after Christmas makes sense, especially as for most people the rhythm, traditions and dates of the wider Christian year have long ceased to be relevant.

Nottodaty · 05/01/2023 10:47

We usually put ours up the first weekend in December and down 1/2 January- before back to work.

Growing up we didn’t put up decorations until much closer to Christmas and not down until the 12th night - much like our neighbours.

My Mum not can’t seem to cope with the mess in her house now of de-Christmas Boxing Day - that seems to soon!

Notplayingball · 05/01/2023 10:48

pinkorchid1 · 05/01/2023 10:13

YABU it doesn't matter. I took mine down on the 2nd.

Same.

Lochroy · 05/01/2023 10:51

We keep them up for twelfth night so they will come down tomorrow. (Although the tree has dropped so much I think it may well go tonight once the DC are in bed!)

Original poster
ProcrastinatingUntilNextYear · 05/01/2023 10:52

ShirleywasaLady · 05/01/2023 10:36

Ours are coming down tonight. It always seems strange to me that people are so desperate to get them down, I love them being up!

I love the Christmas decorations too. The fairy lights brighten the house up during the dark evenings. I get the January blues feeling once they come down.

OP posts:
thisplaceisweird · 05/01/2023 10:53

last week..

Womencanlift · 05/01/2023 10:53

Mine will be coming down this weekend as working today and tomorrow and have plans tomorrow night.

I am not superstitious about when they come down but it will never be before New Year as that is still the festive season for us and I think it’s quite bleak to take them down straight after the 25th

kittensinthekitchen · 05/01/2023 10:54

I switch my outdoor lights off after the 2nd of January, and tonight will be the last night the tree lights are on.

When it all comes down is anyone's guess 🤣

Notplayingball · 05/01/2023 10:56

Also worth bearing in mind that in Scotland the festivities carry on until at least 1st January (need 2nd January off for this reason to relax after New Year's Day celebrations with family). Bringing down the tree before 1st/2nd January just would seem wrong for some.

Workbabysleeprepeat · 05/01/2023 10:57

Catholic Church says Christmas Day is day 1 and 5th Jan is twelfth day. Anglican and COE say Boxing Day is day 1 so 6th Jan is twelfth day. So it depends on your religious beliefs on which day you remove the decorations.
mIf you are not religious then I would say it doesn’t matter at all.

DappledThings · 05/01/2023 11:00

Workbabysleeprepeat · 05/01/2023 10:57

Catholic Church says Christmas Day is day 1 and 5th Jan is twelfth day. Anglican and COE say Boxing Day is day 1 so 6th Jan is twelfth day. So it depends on your religious beliefs on which day you remove the decorations.
mIf you are not religious then I would say it doesn’t matter at all.

That's not quite right. The 12 days starting on 25th is standard across the Anglican communion. There may be other denominations where this differs but it isn't common.

honeylulu · 05/01/2023 11:03

If going with tradition (I do) it's Twelfth Night which is this evening, all decorations are supposed to be gone by sunrise on Twelfth Day - 6 January/Epiphany. This is a curiosity from the middle ages when the next "day" started at dusk, hence why Christmas Eve is now on 24th - historically the beginning of Christmas Day/25th would have been dusk on what is now 24th.

Any decs that stay up beyond Twelfth Night should stay until Candlemas (2 February) which commemorates Mary attending the temple for purification after giving birth. Women were not allowed to attend temple whilst bleeding apparently!

The Royal family keep their decorations up at Sandringham until 2 Feb. I've noticed this is done on the continent too, at least the big tree in town squares and the nativity scenes in churches. I keep our nativity set up until 2 Feb as the Kings only arrive on 6 January!

My tree will be declad and taken down tonight. I took most of the other decorations down on 2 Jan as it was my last day off work. If Twelfth Night falls on a weekend then I keep everything up until then, but it's too much to do all at once in a week night.

Most people seem to take their tree down earlier but I really love the last few days of twinkly lights after work/school.