All gone …..

Ambergran sounds good, you have lights!🎄

Hollysteers I suspect the neighbours feel the same about our house. It's tucked away in the corner and we don't do all the lights around the house, never have. From the road it looks very dark. But we decorate the porch with garlands and a wreath, including lights. We have lights in the hedge at the side of the drive but they are small twinkly ones, not huge ones so again, not seen from a distance. Our windowsill is decorated and lit, and the Christmas tree stands in the bay window.

One year when it snowed our next door neighbours helped us build a snow family, complete with dog, and all dressed in hats, scarves and an umbrella and shopper for Mrs Snowman. No one else could see them despite them being 5 ft tall (not the dog!).

We're the oldest people in the road these days and I'm sure the neighbours think we're gloomy too, but I really don't care. We do our own thing.

Nannan2

One of my DD takes everything down before bed on christmas day and puts up all the birthday decs for my granddaughters birthday on Boxing day.(now shes older i get the feeling that GD would rather keep at least some of the xmas stuff up alongside the birthday banners/balloons but has'nt the heart to tell her mum. 😁

My DDs birthday is 28th December and she has said that she liked having all the Christmas decorations up when she had her parties as a child. It seems an unnecessary palaver to replace them?🤔

On another note, a neighbour who keeps to herself, has no decorations or lights at all and every house shows something lit up outside, even if, like mine, it’s a modest trellis with lights.
It looks so sad and gloomy.

Tinsel and decorations down but the two trees are still up and will be until twelfth night as I love the scent and the lights. I have a vintage aluminium tree from the 1930s, found in my loft many years ago, and I’m the only one in the family that loves it so it goes up first and is the last to come down!

Mine has all gone too. Went up 20th Dec so 8days was enough. I do it for family but my ocd means my brain is buzzing to put things back.

nanna8

6th Jan marking when the three kings arrived in Bethlehem according to tradition. That’s the date my family has always used but I am sure it can be either 5 th or the 6 th. I am leaving some of the lights up because I like them, they look nice. We are going away on the 2 nd so will probably take the tree down after NYE. Plus all the cards - last year they were still arriving until early Feb . Postal service not crash hot these days. Only a couple of days a week now, that’s Oz for you.

My cards arrived before Christmas this year 😲

Sometimes it's February, once an airmail parcel posted in November arrived in March.

The first day of Christmas isn't, as seems to be commonly believed these days, the 1st of December, it's the 25th December, Christmas Day. Unless my finger counting is wrong, I make the twelfth day of Christmas the 5th January. That's 12th Night,

As my tree didn't go up until Christmas Eve it most definitely isn't coming down again until 5th Jan. I'll miss it when it does come down....

Yes i guess you can all choose which day suits, but my Calendar on phone states 5th as one of the dedicated marked calendar dates for national/bank holiday dates etc.Says TWELFTH NIGHT on it in green.Thats good enough for me.

Phew, calm down Bluebelle! Blimey.😁

6th Jan marking when the three kings arrived in Bethlehem according to tradition. That’s the date my family has always used but I am sure it can be either 5 th or the 6 th. I am leaving some of the lights up because I like them, they look nice. We are going away on the 2 nd so will probably take the tree down after NYE. Plus all the cards - last year they were still arriving until early Feb . Postal service not crash hot these days. Only a couple of days a week now, that’s Oz for you.

No BlueBelle you are not alone. Mine will come down today or tomorrow if I have time. I don’t like to give the cleaner extra work dusting around everything and as it is only hubby and myself now as the grandchildren departed on Sunday. My husband has dementia and is confused by all the extra items . I usually keep surfaces uncluttered so if he misplaces items they are easier to find. As a child we always kept them up till 6th Jan. I loved unpacking them the following year and making paperchain decorations.

My ex in-laws dont bother trimming at all now that my youngest son is at uni so can only visit once by christmas(we dont live close to them) but it just looks a bit sad and 'bah humbug' when we do visit.I think if i gave up the decs i would at least keep a small fake tree.Each to their own i guess.

I thought the younger ones trend now is back to using fake trees so to save the earth etc? Also ive never been keen since i read that the real ones have mould & spores etc and arent good for your health- with so many children having asthma i would have thought the parents would be veetoing the real trees.I only ever had one real tree when my kids were younger.And i can remember we had real ones only a handful of times when i was a child, as the 'tinsel' type trees became a bigger thing in late 60's early 70's.I do like the pine smell though but i think you can get fake pine hanging things now

One of my DD takes everything down before bed on christmas day and puts up all the birthday decs for my granddaughters birthday on Boxing day.(now shes older i get the feeling that GD would rather keep at least some of the xmas stuff up alongside the birthday banners/balloons but has'nt the heart to tell her mum. 😁

12th night is 5th jan.not 6th.(look on your calendars) But we always take everything down by then anyway as my late mam died on 5th jan, so it seems respectful to do so.🫤 Anyway she was VERY superstitious so its what she used to tell us- "it's bad luck after the 5th"- so it's what we've always known i guess.Makes sense why the Royal family have had so much bad luck now does'nt it, with them keeping 'em up so long?😆

2 GC here for the day on 2nd so the tree will stay up until the weekend. Usually the tree comes down on NYD. This year I wondered whether to get a tree (has to be a real one!) but we found one being sold off just before Christmas Day so got that.

Mine is put up on 21 December and stays until my DGC go back to school (next Monday).

Both DDs go totally overboard with massive real trees put up mid-November, and they’re always impatient to take them down the day after Boxing Day!

Our little town looks attractive with the tree in the centre and smaller trees above the shops, plus lit decorations high up down the main street.

The Lions do a sterling job of putting them up.

Trouble is, they don’t get taken down so quickly.

I think it looks depressing if stuff is still up later on in January, all looks tired and tacky by then.

Worst offence is to keep the Christmas decs on display all year! You know - the figures ones bolted on to people’s outside walls or on top of porches etc - not lit up, but clearly a snowman or Santa etc . There should be a law against it! (Only half joking)

I took my indoors tree down because we are away for New Year - but leave the outside trees decorated and lit up so the neighbours don’t think I’m Scrooge. I love a good clean up afterwards and putting the first vase of daffodils out .

I don't have a tree as I'm on my own but I love the decorations around and keep them till Twelfth Night. Then any that are non Christmassy plus any lights stay till Candlemas. Then I'm ready to enjoy them being packed away.

Barbadosbelle

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Bad luck to take down your tree and decorations before Twelfth Night !!
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I thought it was bad luck to leave them up after Twelfth Night!

Or - What you Will

Barbadosbelle I m shaking in my shoes 🤣🤣🤣

What a load of rubbish! The tree was always taken down in my family before Hogmanay as that was our important celebration. Bad luck indeed

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Bad luck to take down your tree and decorations before Twelfth Night !!
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