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Christmas

Taking the decs down yet?

(85 Posts)
lucywinter Sat 04-Jan-20 13:41:08

I have just carved up the tree and taken it outside in a sheet. Might leave the room decs till Monday.

grannysyb Sat 04-Jan-20 17:37:04

Did it all yesterday as my cleaner comes on Saturday. Took nearly as long as putting it all up! DH loves Christmas and always moans when everything is put away.

phoenix Sat 04-Jan-20 17:46:29

Update, applied a little gentle suggestion, the kitchen now only has a sort of wicker, sisal filled light up Father Christmas, and the smallish fibre optic tree. Does anyone else have one, and if so, does it make an odd "tinkling" noise?

I removed the fireplace garland when Mr P wasn't looking, so all that is left in the sitting room are the 3 trees.

lucywinter Sat 04-Jan-20 17:50:02

We had a fibre-optic tree. Haven't had it out for a while but I'm sure it made some kind of a noise.

lucywinter Sat 04-Jan-20 17:51:04

Feel like going and getting it out now just to listen. Better not. grin

phoenix Sat 04-Jan-20 18:22:53

It's not unpleasant, although the first time I noticed it, it took quite a bit of tracking down until I found out where the noise was coming from!

Callistemon Sat 04-Jan-20 18:25:13

all done and dusted

Half done and nothing dusted!
I was making room at the top of a big wardrobe in the spare room to make room rather than putting them back in the attic.
Exhausted now.

H1954 Sat 04-Jan-20 18:29:32

Ours came down two days ago. However, does anyone else always manage to miss something like us? Every year, without fail, we miss at least one item! ?

love0c Sat 04-Jan-20 19:09:16

Mine all done! Glad to see the back of it all really this year. House looks nice and clean.

Daisymae Sat 04-Jan-20 19:17:25

Well yes, came down today. Have a new snowy tree and good grief I ended up having to vaccum myself. Hopefully I will have forgotten about it by next year........

Iam64 Sat 04-Jan-20 19:49:12

I had a day to myself, a rare thing, so took them down yesterday. I always used to wait till 12th night but the opportunity to do it slowly, pack carefully whilst listening to the radio was a joy.
I've left two sets of lights up, I love them.

SueDonim Sat 04-Jan-20 19:57:12

Daisymae I’ve this year discovered the pitfalls of ‘snowy’ trees. I’ve never had one before and didn’t realise everyone and thing would have white bits stuck all over them. I’m minded to take the tree out in the garden and give it good shake before putting it away!

Daisymae Sat 04-Jan-20 20:03:52

SueDonin - didn't have a problem putting it up and it looked good. Had slightest snowfall on the table where it was standing. However getting it back in the storage bag was another thing altogether! I gave it a 5 star review too!

phoenix Sat 04-Jan-20 20:09:37

We have a large artificial ficus in the hall that has fairy lights on it all year round. Don't actually turn them on during the summer months, but they do provide a bit of welcome cheer during the darker time of year.

SueDonim Sat 04-Jan-20 20:20:49

I’ve kept the box that ours came in, Daisymae. I’ll do some wrestling with it tomorrow! grin

Urmstongran Sat 04-Jan-20 21:07:54

It was going to be Monday. But will put them all away tomorrow as we are over to mind our grandson on Monday all day. Got to be there at 7:30am. He’s off with hand foot & mouth virus. Ordinarily we’d do it Monday but we know we won’t feel like it at 5pm when we get home!

Hetty58 Sat 04-Jan-20 21:23:19

Didn't put many out, so less to pack away. I'll do that in the morning, along with the cards. The dust will show then - so no rush!

AllotmentLil Sat 04-Jan-20 23:03:03

All down and packed away except the two bottles with the lights in. They’ll stay out all year and will be on every now and again when we need cheering up. Like some others we’ve missed putting the odd dec away so many times that we’ve made a tradition of it and now deliberately leave one up! I bought lots of flowers to cheer the house up but it still feels a bit bare ...

rubysong Sat 04-Jan-20 23:14:32

This is my theory. The twelve days of celebration began on December 25th so the final one was 5th which ended with the biggest party of all (12th night), so the decorations should still be up until after 5th. Hence they are taken down on 6th. I think it is a shame that they go up so early and so much celebrating is done before Christmas Day.

Cabbie21 Sat 04-Jan-20 23:15:57

We normally leave them till Twelfth Night or maybe Epiphany Sunday, especially the Nativity Scene, as the Wise Men have not yet arrived!
However, our tree, which we have had for years, had a broken base and was balanced somewhat precariously and I managed to knock it over on New Year’s Day. Much as I love the lights, I had no intention of putting them all back on, so it all came down. Today I took the rest down, but I have not dusted yet, ( I knew there was something else I meant to do today!) nothing is properly put away yet though.

Yennifer Sat 04-Jan-20 23:22:40

New years eve for us, think it's supposed to be Jan 6th but we will all be busy at ork and school x

Mapleleaf Sun 05-Jan-20 16:57:27

Well, everything is nearly away now - the main trees and baubles are away and the lamps, etc are back in their place.
We've just left a few things in the dining room ready for our 12th night supper, but tomorrow I will take those down and put them away and everything will be back to normal. It always seems a bit bare for a few days, doesn't it, but I light a few candles and switch on some lamps as dusk falls to try to make it look less dreary, then start planning for Spring, looking at gardening catalogues and visiting garden centres to see what I can buy for Spring and Summer! ?

Pudding123 Sun 05-Jan-20 17:10:39

All put away and just finished cleaning,glad it is only once a year.I had a large reel which 1000 tree lights were stored on...can I find it,no i can't I have searched everywhere so they have just been tied up so I will have a bit of a job putting them up next year.The house looks lovely but I did enjoy all the extra lights ( about 15 sets )

Urmstongran Sun 05-Jan-20 17:11:24

Whatever date you choose, it is worth noting that the 'rules' have changed over history. 2nd February, in fact, actually used to be the date when Christians took their decorations down, as noted in this poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674):

"Down with the rosemary, and so

Down with the bays and misletoe ;

Down with the holly, ivy, all,

Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall"

— "Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve"

Grannycool52 Sun 05-Jan-20 18:47:06

New Year's Day for us. Tree down & outside, decorations put in the attic. Yesterday we took the tree to the recycling depot ( wrapped in an old duvet cover to minimize needles in the car) and took down the cards.
All back to normal now ☺️.

seacliff Sun 05-Jan-20 19:21:34

We put ours up about 7 days before Christmas, we'd been busy. They came down today after our last guests left, as I'm back at work tomorrow.

We didn't do as much as usual, so it was less of a chore. Just the main tree, a small Hobby craft tree on the table, and some welcoming advent lights in various windows, plus cards, a few glittery pine cones etc.

I have even got 2 big bags of old tinsel etc to chuck or give to charity shop. I am really trying to downsize, both me personally and the contents of the house.