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Original poster

When does Christmas 'end' for you?

205 replies

AD80 · 15/12/2021 13:04

When I was a kid I felt it was different compared to now. I felt like Christmas lasted for days after the big day, it would still feel magical between Christmas and new year. We'd visit family between Christmas and new year. I'm not sure if it was just because I was a kid, I was fortunate enough my parents had jobs where they'd be off for the whole festive period. But it felt like shops shut for a few days too! 🤷‍♀️

I'm not sure if it's just me or because I'm grown up but these days I feel like people forget about Christmas soon as the day is over. No Christmas songs played after the 25th! Shops back to normal. Often people take their decs down

What does it 'end' for you.

Won't be ready to let go this year. We all have covid at the minute. Dd was last to get and she won't be out of isolation until the 25th so we've pretty much missed the whole of December which makes me so sad 😪

I just feel like making it last this year. I don't take my tree down until after New Year's Day anyway!

I am going to look at doing things we'd normally do now after Christmas and hoping it'll still fee Christmassy !

OP posts:
Squirrelblanket · 15/12/2021 16:34

The season of Christmas lasts for me from 1 December to whatever day I go back to work in January. The active celebrating part for me is from 24 December to 1 Jan.

I take my decorations down at some point in between 27-30 Dec.

It's nothing to do with stopping celebrating, but for me part of the celebration is having the 'clean slate' feeling for New Year. We still have some lights up and we certainly don't stop enjoying festive food, drinks, telly, music etc..Grin

The decorations thing goes back to remembering times when we used to go back to school and the decorations were still up. It just used to make me feel sad seeing them there when we had to get back to a routine, like a reminder of the fun we'd had that had now passed. That sounds dramatic but I hope you know what I mean. 😂

TurnUpTurnip · 15/12/2021 16:35

January the 1st

Nowayoutonlydown · 15/12/2021 16:40

Christmas ends for me as soon as dinners done.
DD is a boxing day baby, so after dinner it's all winding down and mentally preparing for her birthday.

Fallagain · 15/12/2021 16:41

2nd Jan when the tree comes down.

Honeymint · 15/12/2021 16:45

Another vote for the 12th night! We always keep our decorations up until then!

I think part of the ‘unchristmassy’ spirit is the way the shops snap out of it like they do with every other holiday. They go so overboard from the day after Halloween and then from the 26th you’d never know a holiday had occurred!

A lot of people near us seem to put their decorations and tree and everything away as soon as Christmas is over, which I find so miserable. But I suppose some people have had them up since November so for them maybe they’re over it by then?

anon51 · 15/12/2021 16:46

When the schools go back and we go back to work

Chatwin · 15/12/2021 16:48

2nd January, always have decorations still up for Hogmanay.

SockFluffInTheBath · 15/12/2021 16:52

I hate Christmas with a passion and if it was up to me the tree would be in the chipper on Boxing Day morning. Send the spirit of Christmas past my way Grin

AppleBarrel · 15/12/2021 16:54

6th December is when the decorations come down.
We always have a special dinner on the 6th, it's a shame Dc are usually back at school by then.

Christmas doesn't really start for me until Christmas Eve though, and I always put my name down to work on Christmas Eve and take annual leave between Christmas and New Year, whereas most people where I work seem to prefer time off before Christmas.

I love that gentle time at the end of the year, whole family at home, presents opened, lots of Christmas food still to eat, twinkling lights, Christmas films, long walks, board games, a good book by the fire with a sherry and mince pie. Perfection!

EmmaWoodhousestreehouse · 15/12/2021 17:08

Take tree down end of Boxing Day. I love a tree but I also like getting back to normal. I also don’t like piles of presents lying around making the place look untidy. I know I sound like a miserable bitch. The kids are grown up now if that makes it any less grinch like.

CookPassBabtridge · 15/12/2021 17:11

I take my decs down on NYD, it definitely feels like Chrustmas for me still up until then. We have a few dinners, keep the buffets and christmas films going.

FindingMeno · 15/12/2021 17:12

Boxing Day, with a huge sigh of relief.

Livpool · 15/12/2021 17:13

Usually when I go back to work - I am off this year until the 3rd so can't wait. DS, DH and me are all off for almost 2 weeks

AppleBarrel · 15/12/2021 17:13

🤦🏻‍♀️ oops I meant 6th Jan! Not Dec.

Chesneyhawkes1 · 15/12/2021 17:15

27th December when I go back to work

TangledNemo · 15/12/2021 17:16

I’m in a transitional period at the moment. I spent most Christmases at my parents house until 2 years ago but this will be the first with my husband and our baby.
For me, Christmas usually starts when I finish work for the year and is usually over after Christmas dinner. Sometimes it might extend to watching a movie as well, but my family spend most of Christmas drinking so I find it a bit lonely.
As much as I love being off work, I find the time between Christmas and New Year very dull too and a waste of annual leave.

Decorations stay up until the 6th Jan though (or maybe a few days before depending on when the weekend falls).

Bootsnshoes · 15/12/2021 17:21

Jan 6th

SquigglePigs · 15/12/2021 17:24

I think for me it's somewhere between New Year's Day and when we go back to work (so the 4th this year). That means the decorations will come down on the 2nd or 3rd. I'm all for carrying on the fun but I want to be straight when we go back to work.

When I was a kid/teenager my parents usually hosted a New Year's Eve party and the Christmas decorations all came down with the New Year's Day tidy up and that always felt pretty good.

FallonCarringtonWannabe · 15/12/2021 17:25

We have an advent wreath so start with advent on the first Sunday of advent in November. We do shoes outside the door on the eve of st Nicholas’ day. We have many Christmas dinners between the 25th and the 5th. I have a christmas calendar for the 12 days of Christmas. We have days out and sometimes, precovid, a city break. And we end with a small stocking of presents on the epiphany on the 6th jan.

It annoys me when people make such a fuss during advent and then become miserable on boxing day. Always publicly miserable too. It completely misses the point.

CraftyGin · 15/12/2021 17:26

Epiphany, 6th January

RudeRide · 15/12/2021 17:32

We enjoy the advent weeks but Christmas for us is 24-26 dec.

MaHBroon · 15/12/2021 17:33

12th night.

maddy68 · 15/12/2021 17:41

Day after boxing day

HolidayTime2021 · 15/12/2021 17:44

When I leave the country for new year
27th or 28th usually

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 15/12/2021 17:48

We don’t take the decorations down until the 6th, but it doesn’t really feel Christmassy to me after New Year’s Day - everybody’s gone back to work, it’s back to banal normality.

I love the week between Christmas and New Year, though.

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