We've got a kind of pre-decorated Xmas tree that comes out every year, purely because it's done in such a way that the cats can't get into it. That will be getting put back in it's box on January 2nd though. My wife didn't bother with any other decorations though so nothing else to come down.
mine is still up, but im off next Friday, so will take it down then or Saturday..Christmas is only once a year so i like to it last and make the most of it
just spoke to a friend who told me she's taken her Christmas tree and decorations down this morning and it's all back to normal now.
Bit premature for me. I like to spread it out until at least the day after New Years day.
Anyone else all packed up and back to normal now?
well partially back to normal in that the house is a bit tidier now that all the bags of rubbish and wrapping/packaging have gone.
Tree's still looking healthy at the moment so it's going to stay up a bit longer yet, probably until New Year's day when it will be coming down ready for the bin men the following day.
Don't generally bother too much with a lot of decorations, so just a few bits and cards to take down which will probably wait until the weekend
The only people I know who take their decorations down early are those who put them up early eg in November or the first day of December. By the time Christmas Day has arrived, they re sick and tired of them! We put ours up relatively late and so they are still giving us pleasure. Christmas goes on for at least another week in this house!
Same here. Put mine up on 23rd December and still very new and fresh. They will remain, as will the Christmas spirit until I take them down on the 12th night - which is either the 5th/6th January. Not sure...but will be by the time comes.
Our main Christmas tree goes up a couple of weeks before Xmas and comes down on Twelfth Night. The other Christmas tree goes up on the first weekend in December.
The lights outside the house go up usually in the middle of November at a weekend where the weather is OK for going up a ladder, but do not get turned on until 1st December. Again, they are not turned on after 12th night, however they may come down until a few weeks later when the weather is better.
Our tree is still up, everything else is now down. Its our daughters 5th birthday tomorrow and so we are replacing Christmas decorations with birthday banners and balloons tonight
Our Christmas decorations and tree have been up since the end of November , I love Christmas and would keep them up longer if it wasn't for her birthday.
What I find really annoying and quite sad really is the major stores all taking down their decs on Christmas Eve and replacing them with Sale Signs, they could find room for both. It is still the Christmas period , its nice to see the decs still up especially for kids taken out shopping. I think they could hold on until New Year personally.
My family is part-Italian and things are done differently there, certainly in the part of Italy they're from and probably throughout the country.
You see very little in the shops until early December. Christmas itself is more of a religious thing - a big family meal on Christmas Eve, while Christmas Day itself is more like a laid-back bank holiday. The big party night is New Year's Eve - they tend to go out for a few drinks in the early part of the evening, have a family meal as midnight approaches and then return to the pubs and bars and party well into the early hours, unlike in England and Wales where things have usually wound down by 1am. Epiphany Day is also huge - there are carnivals in the towns the evening before as the Three Kings arrive, and the children wake up the following morning to find the Kings have left their presents.
As such, things were always done in a similar way in our house during my childhood. The trouble with modern Britain is that a lot of people think it's Christmas when it's Advent (an austere time of preparation). We generally put our decorations up around 15th December, when we're ready for our first carols. I always got my presents on 25 December rather than Epiphany, because inevitably growing up in Britain I was brought up in the tradition of Father Christmas rather than the Three Kings.
Taking down our Christmas decorations before twelfth night would've been unthinkable in our house. We would think nothing of putting a vinyl/CD of Christmas carols or Christmas party songs on at any time before the Epiphany. In fact, I may well play some carols later tonight. In most continental countries, the decorations are still up in shops and Christmas music is still playing.
You should begin your Christmas preparations in early December and end your celebrations on 6 January. The 'other' way, namely starting your preparations weeks, or even months earlier, and ending them on Boxing Day, is following the calendar of the shops and our consumerist society.
What I find really annoying and quite sad really is the major stores all taking down their decs on Christmas Eve and replacing them with Sale Signs, they could find room for both. It is still the Christmas period , its nice to see the decs still up especially for kids taken out shopping. I think they could hold on until New Year personally.
I agree, My local mall was totally different this morning compared to Xmas eve. Hardly a sniff of Christmas, like it never happened. I drove past Tesco's yesterday, it wasn't open but staff were in taking the Christmas things down. Sad
What I find really annoying and quite sad really is the major stores all taking down their decs on Christmas Eve and replacing them with Sale Signs, they could find room for both. It is still the Christmas period , its nice to see the decs still up especially for kids taken out shopping. I think they could hold on until New Year personally.
Agreed. Thinking back, things weren't like this when I was a kid. I seem to recall New Year's Day was the big sales day. People would camp out on New Year's Eve outside the big department stores. The period between Boxing Day and New Year was for returning faulty/unwanted goods to the shops and for spending Christmas vouchers etc...They were still in Christmas mode.
Agreed. Thinking back, things weren't like this when I was a kid. I seem to recall New Year's Day was the big sales day. People would camp out on New Year's Eve outside the big department stores. The period between Boxing Day and New Year was for returning faulty/unwanted goods to the shops and for spending Christmas vouchers etc...They were still in Christmas mode.
Yes Christmas used to stretch over a week when I was a kid, now on Christmas eve when the shops close the adverts on TV change to sales and Christmas is a distant memory, if you hit the sales on boxing day there is no hint of Christmas
I have said elsewhere on DS that i wasnt going to put a christmas tree up this year. But i have got into the spirit and actually put one up. And it will be sad when it is taken down on friday 2nd.
It doesnt matter when you put the tree up nor when you take it down. Advent and epiphany marks the start and conclusion of the christmas season. So christmas 2015 will start for me on november 29th which is advent sunday. And the tree will go up then and come down on jan 6th 2016
Christmas isn't over yet, for some of us it's the first day back at home after staying with the parents/in laws. There is still plenty of festive fun to be had, toys to be played with, xmas food to be eaten and then there is all the booze! Then we have the new years eve party to look forward to. I do wander if these people taking their tree/ decs down early are the same meanies who went shopping for sales tat on Boxing day?
Christmas isn't over yet, for some of us it's the first day back at home after staying with the parents/in laws. There is still plenty of festive fun to be had, toys to be played with, xmas food to be eaten and then there is all the booze! Then we have the new years eve party to look forward to. I do wander if these people taking their tree/ decs down early are the same meanies who went shopping for sales tat on Boxing day?
I agree. For me it will be over next weekend before the back to work on the Monday.
Comments
It will take me at least 2 days to take everything down it took me about week to get everything up
well partially back to normal in that the house is a bit tidier now that all the bags of rubbish and wrapping/packaging have gone.
Tree's still looking healthy at the moment so it's going to stay up a bit longer yet, probably until New Year's day when it will be coming down ready for the bin men the following day.
Don't generally bother too much with a lot of decorations, so just a few bits and cards to take down which will probably wait until the weekend
Same here. Put mine up on 23rd December and still very new and fresh. They will remain, as will the Christmas spirit until I take them down on the 12th night - which is either the 5th/6th January. Not sure...but will be by the time comes.
Christmas over! New Year yet to come!!
The lights outside the house go up usually in the middle of November at a weekend where the weather is OK for going up a ladder, but do not get turned on until 1st December. Again, they are not turned on after 12th night, however they may come down until a few weeks later when the weather is better.
Our Christmas decorations and tree have been up since the end of November , I love Christmas and would keep them up longer if it wasn't for her birthday.
You see very little in the shops until early December. Christmas itself is more of a religious thing - a big family meal on Christmas Eve, while Christmas Day itself is more like a laid-back bank holiday. The big party night is New Year's Eve - they tend to go out for a few drinks in the early part of the evening, have a family meal as midnight approaches and then return to the pubs and bars and party well into the early hours, unlike in England and Wales where things have usually wound down by 1am. Epiphany Day is also huge - there are carnivals in the towns the evening before as the Three Kings arrive, and the children wake up the following morning to find the Kings have left their presents.
As such, things were always done in a similar way in our house during my childhood. The trouble with modern Britain is that a lot of people think it's Christmas when it's Advent (an austere time of preparation). We generally put our decorations up around 15th December, when we're ready for our first carols. I always got my presents on 25 December rather than Epiphany, because inevitably growing up in Britain I was brought up in the tradition of Father Christmas rather than the Three Kings.
Taking down our Christmas decorations before twelfth night would've been unthinkable in our house. We would think nothing of putting a vinyl/CD of Christmas carols or Christmas party songs on at any time before the Epiphany. In fact, I may well play some carols later tonight. In most continental countries, the decorations are still up in shops and Christmas music is still playing.
You should begin your Christmas preparations in early December and end your celebrations on 6 January. The 'other' way, namely starting your preparations weeks, or even months earlier, and ending them on Boxing Day, is following the calendar of the shops and our consumerist society.
I agree, My local mall was totally different this morning compared to Xmas eve. Hardly a sniff of Christmas, like it never happened. I drove past Tesco's yesterday, it wasn't open but staff were in taking the Christmas things down. Sad
Agreed. Thinking back, things weren't like this when I was a kid. I seem to recall New Year's Day was the big sales day. People would camp out on New Year's Eve outside the big department stores. The period between Boxing Day and New Year was for returning faulty/unwanted goods to the shops and for spending Christmas vouchers etc...They were still in Christmas mode.
Yes Christmas used to stretch over a week when I was a kid, now on Christmas eve when the shops close the adverts on TV change to sales and Christmas is a distant memory, if you hit the sales on boxing day there is no hint of Christmas
No it's not, we have only just begun Christmas and into its 3rd day of 12 which ends on the 5th of January;-)
It doesnt matter when you put the tree up nor when you take it down. Advent and epiphany marks the start and conclusion of the christmas season. So christmas 2015 will start for me on november 29th which is advent sunday. And the tree will go up then and come down on jan 6th 2016
I agree. For me it will be over next weekend before the back to work on the Monday.
I did once have a Christmas tree....one of these....but i lost it.