Taking the decs down yet?

Pace yourself, grannya and take care, try not to do too much at first.

I don't know what bug you've caught M0nica and Urmstongran, tummy or The Cough, but hope you both feel better soon.

The Cough takes a while to go and I can only do a bit at a time, cleaned two rooms today!
(And cooked dinner)

Our tree and decorations all came down yesterday so that we could have a good clean before hosting a big family party today to celebrate a double birthday - with 75 years separating the two birthday boys! I have, however, left the nativity scene where it is to allow the magi to finally reach their destination tomorrow.

Throughout the whole of the festive season I have been banned from doing very much at all, but today I was permitted to use the vacuum cleaner and do some dusting and polishing. I suspect it was simply a ploy to keep me out of the way while The Wonderful Man was creating edible deliciousness in the kitchen.

I've been working from home during my recent illness, but I'm going back to work tomorrow and feeling rather excited about it.

Phoenix we went to a farm shop the other day where they keep goats, and they were all *the goats) happily munching on Xmas trees. They were really loving them, adult goats and little ones. Very sweet.

Much as I've loved my decorations this year I took the opportunity of my family being away for a couple of days to take them down on Thurs - the thought of trying to do it with a 4 and 6 year old in the vicinity was a bit too much. I also cleaned right through the house and did 3 baskets of washing so in all it's taken me 3 days to get back to normal. The little ones came back and said Nana your house looks all different

Not until 12th night, tomorrow. Christmas never used to finish until then. I remember schools never went back until after the 6th.

Rotten isn't it Urmston

Commiserations MOnica you & me both!

On our local village Facebook page, someone was listing that they would be glad to collect any real Christmas trees, as their goats love them!

Posted a lovely picture of them tucking in, too!

They should all be down away by now, but they aren't. I am down with a winter bug and after half an hour of bending and stretching to remove them, I have to sit down for an hour to recover, but should finish the job tomorrow.

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.

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 ☺️.

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"

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 )

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! ?

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

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.

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.

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 ...

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!

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!

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

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.

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!

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!

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.