Candlemas (or later in Jan at least) for decs - anyone else?

[FestiveFruitloop]

Anyone planning to leave their tree/decs up past Twelfth Night/possibly even to Candlemas?

I give it serious thought every year, and this year I think I'm going to do it. I find that the decorations, and in particular the lights, seem to help my SAD tremendously, and the thought of having the living room all bare and sad for January is so depressing.

The real tree in the conservatory is definitely staying until it's looking too bedraggled to be worth keeping - whenever that may turn out to be. For the artificial one in the living room, I'm thinking of replacing the more overtly Christmassy items after Twelfth Night with some that have a 'winter' rather than a 'Christmas' feel.

Anyone else doing similar? (And just in case anyone recognises my username, yes I do post this same question, or a version of it, every year. 😂😂)

We have our outdoor lights up in trees etc all year round but keep some of the indoor ones and fill the house with lots of fresh greenery and flowering bulbs until Candlemas. It feels like a lovely celebration of winter whilst also looking ahead to spring.

This is an interesting idea. I find it all cheering and it does seem a faff to do all that work for 3 weeks only.

Sounds lovely, go for it!

We were lucky with this tree, I had one that worked once before but several failures in between. Also tried planting them out, with no success. I think we've had this one about 6 or 7 years so it's been great, although its shape gets less symmetrical every year.....

Fairy lights by tv till March at least nativity advent calendar till 6th January then last bits of holly berries put away.

Ive taken mine down..my mam died suddenly Tuesday so it didn't feel right having them up still. It's just sons birthday next week anyway so I normally take them down before then anyway.

Catmuffin depending on where you live your snowdrops should be up soon. We have two different types, the early ones are already a few cm above the ground.

I love the feeling of cleaned and decluttered rooms so our decorations are all down. Several pots of bulbs on the windowsills and DH came back from the supermarket with a bunch of tulips today.

We do have fairy lights up in a couple of large houseplants though, they will stay until about Easter.

Mine came down today. Could t stand the clutter any longer and always like to start the new year fresh.

outside lights will come down when I get chance but I will stop switching them on on NY day.

When did we start celebrating Christmas BEFORE Christmas, instead of after it?

I have a "winter tree" as well as the Christmas tree! It stays up from Halloween until March and it's one of those white trees with the ends of the branches lit up, it looks really pretty and cheerful but not obviously christmassy!

I have no idea what Candlemas is but mine come down new year's Day without fail

I’ll take mine down on the 4th/5th. I’m in Shetland so it’s fire festivals and up Helly aa’s from January to March so I’ll get out some pieces to celebrate that and light candles etc to coorie down with instead of fairly lights.

@Mammyloveswine sending love and strength to you and your family during this time 💐

So sorry to hear this, @Mammyloveswine.

Thabk you @FestiveFruitloop and @Mrsfussypants1 having a gin for her tonight xxx

Take overtly Christmas decs down 6th jan but leave some of the more wintery stuff up for January, fairly lights, paper snowflakes, the odd Robin ornament etc.

I’d much prefer outside lights to be up during January than starting as early as November. November still has natural light and autumnal beauty whereas although winter had its own beauty January is just bleak.

Totally agree. I've decided our outside lights (couple of strings of plain coloured lights, nothing annoying) are staying up for the rest of the winter.

Also love the idea of a winter tree @ShatParp - might have to copy that!

We take down the tree and decorations on New Year’s Day but I always leave up all the twinkly lights (around the fireplace and bookshelves) until the end of March/beginning of April. We light lots of candles in the evening too which helps the long, dark nights feel cosy.

My Polish neighbours put their decorations up around 20 Dec & leave until Candlemas. This seems to be the tradition in Poland and a lot of Catholic European countries. It’s only in the UK where everyone puts up decorations in Nov and takes them down on Boxing Day!

I'm taking the ornaments down but leaving tree with lights

Oh and the outside lights stay up all year

We have white lights outside on timer that will keep coming on until the batteries die.
Tree and decs will come down on 12th night. Will keep some white fairy lights on the fireplace and bookshelves, and plenty of candles

I've always kept my natural decorations up until Candlemas. So tree, green foliage around the mirror and door wreath. The rest would be put away usually on the day before the children went back to school.

At least two Christmases ago I left some warm white lights in a huge house plant - more like a mini tree - intending to take them down once the clocks changed at the end of March.
They never did come down. And never will, as long as they’re still working.

We decorate for the seasons. So spring decoration will begin in spring and not before. It’s winter now so it’s all about cosy, with fairy lights and wintery candles. Daffodils bulbs in the house from February.
My two trees will be down at the weekend but outdoor decorated trees will remain until mid feb.