Is it still Christmas with you?

[OpheIiaBaIIs]

Definitely is here! I've just had Christmas cake and coffee from my shiny new machine for breakfast with the tree twinkling away. This weekend we'll be catching up on Christmas TV we've missed, eating the rest of the Christmas food and having our Twelfth Night Party before we reluctantly pack everything away and DH goes back to work on Monday. It still feels very festive here!

So many of our neighbours have taken their decorations and lights down - the street that was so twinkly and pretty a few days ago looks so bare and dreary now, the spoilsports . I leave lots of fairy lights up through January because I think the darkest part of the year needs them. And I leave some up all year, with extras at Easter which we 'do' like a mini-Christmas. Very much of the belief that Christmas is a season, not a day!

Feeling a tad griefy that it's coming to an end but looking forward to a last lovely weekend! How about you?

Still Christmas in my house!! Having people In tonight for dinner, off to party on Saturday, decs down on Sunday afternoon, back to work and gym Monday.

@stripes1 Tesco had Easter stuff in on Christmas Eve!

I don't mind Christmas food etc being in the shops from October or November as I like to buy a bit each week to put away. But I do think it's sad to see all the Easter stuff next to the reduced Christmas food on Boxing Day. I didn't make a Christmas cake this year but bought one - on the 27th, when it was £2 rather than £10. We never eat it until after Christmas anyway. I'd rather the Christmas food wasn't so drastically reduced right after Christmas, but was a reasonable halfway price from the get-go and available for the whole 'season'.

Hell no. Sick of the junk food, tree went days ago.

Not 12th night yet but thinking of demanding my girls put away the decorations before they return to university Sunday

We have guests tomorrow and their presents are still under the tree

I love my tree and lights, so put my decs up in November and took them down on NYD because January just doesn't feel like Christmas, especially as DH and are back at work and DS 2 is busy writing essays for uni. Have cleaned my house, nearly caught up on the laundry and am enjoying not having boxes of stuff all over the place.
I am leaving my fairy lights up outside for the whole year since they look pretty and make me happy. I also have fairy light twigs in a vase, which MN is very scathing of (anyone remember the twigs and shit threads?) but they are staying too because I like them.

I'm taking my decorations down on Sunday. I've put our cards in the recycling bin though as the bin men are due today. I might keep some fairy lights up after the decorations have been packed away as they look so nice and cosy.

Trees and everything still up, and will come down on Sunday, they were put up the 2nd week in December.

I have a lot of natural materiel from the garden for decorations and my last top up was 2 days ago, shall be sad to see it all go but its nice to have the house back to normal!

May leave a few strings of lights in a couple of places though!

.....and need to change my user name!

Yip, still Christmas for me. Hate January. Hate the lull, every frickin year. This morning I watched Tiger comes to Tea again and I put on the first two Harry Potter movies

Nope. Unchristmasing here today. Friends and DC have gone, greenery all looking a bit sad, front room a shambles: time to tidy up.

Yes and no. The outside decorations came down on NY Day but the indoor stuff is up until tomorrow (can't wait until 6th as we won't have time). After a very xmassy Dec and lots of hosting I'm ready to be done with it and hibernate to be honest. And I agree it's nice to start the New Year with everything packed away. I know traditionally it is supposed to be the 12 days but let's be honest everyone celebrates from Dec 1st to 31st in the main nowadays. It's Christmas evolution! We are going to see the panto at the London Palladium on Sunday with my parents though so that will be the last xmas event for us ready to go back to school next week!

@Aderyn19 boo to the naysayers! I love a lighty twig, me. I'm considering leaving the traditional, Quality Street wrapper coloured lights around my main window all year, too - usually I leave warm white ones. They're so pretty, sod what anyone else says 😊

Half way here! I get bored of them before 12th night, but I definitely leave them up over New year and a couple of days afterwards. Ours are down in the kitchen, but the tree is still up (it’s outside) and the garlands and cards in the living room. I worked away a lot over Xmas, and was only home a few days between the 15th and the 30th, so I haven’t seen the decorations much anyway!

The tree and most of the decorations went down on the 28th, we’ve still got one set of lights (DDs request), the cards, and the wreath on the door up, and they’ll be coming down at the weekend. DH went back to work on Monday, but I work term time so the DDs and I are still lazing around before normality resumes on Monday.
We put up our decorations the first weekend of December so by this time I’m ready to get the house back to normal!

@OpheIiaBaIIs keep the lights up! I've still got my coloured ones up, my 64 year old friend in California does the same

Still christmas here
My neighbour keeps posting memes on fb about how its x days/weeks to christmas etc, but he took his tree down boxing day, the tit.

Still Christmas here. Hate taking it all down. It takes so long to put up!

Still have lots of Xmas food too.

We had family staying over new year which was hectic. Cleaner is in today so House will be cleaned and I will enjoy the tree and lights and food and my new books and some movies for a few more days. Will probably start taking things down on Sunday. The Christmas crockery - mugs and some serving bowls - is going away today.

Still holding on to the festive feeling here as much as possible.

Epiphany/12th night was always a big thing when I was growing up (my grandma always had a 12th night party) so that's stayed with me ever since.

We don't put our decorations up until about a week before Christmas though, sometimes later - so from then until 12th night seems the natural Christmas season to me.

OP a last Christmas meal sounds like a lovely idea

What did your grandma do for her 12th night party, @PrivateSpidey?

We still have our decs up and most of the food (well less after yesterday!) Because I worked 6 out of 7 Christmas week, shot to the other side of the country for a family wedding straight after, yesterday visiting family and today a funeral so I've barely even been in the front room with the tree and lights and only sorted the presents out and put them away last night. I am off until Monday and I intend to enjoy Christmas food, decorations and TV tonight and tomorrow and then take it all down Sunday probably.

We start decorating on the first and finish when the kids go back to school - I can do a through clean then

It's still Christmasy here but the secs are going away today, my trees are dead and I've got a child free morning so I'm going to crack on.

Polly there wasn't anything specifically 12th night- related that she did, IIRC (although I should ask my mum) - it was just a party at her house with a buffet, loads of sherry, Christmas cake, the Christmas decorations still up etc, and she always had fizzy drinks for the kids, one of the main things I remember!

Then she just used to organise your basic 70s/80s party games like passing the balloon down the line between your knees etc, people would stand up and tell jokes and my uncle used to do magic tricks and card tricks etc.

I had loads of cousins, aunties and uncles etc, so there were always loads of people there, people sitting on the stairs etc. Ah I haven't really thought of those parties for a long time, thank you for prompting these nice memories OP and Polly that's made me quite emotional!

I might have a mini 12th night party myself now!

Spidey, that sounds like an total blast! What a fun party your grandma held Thanks for sharing it with us, I smiled reading through it all.

I really think you should go ahead and have your party, I bet it'll be just lovely