According To Tradition - Christmas Decorations

Thank you Welshy.
They are quite simple to make and I love that they are so curvy and 3D.
I found a tutorial online. Mine are plain white this year (computer paper). The biggest are easiest and from A4 sheets. They come out at about 50cms - but the tiny ones were fiddly.

Ours came down this afternoon. All packed up and back in the garage. I was going to leave the lights outside in the hedge until the batteries died but Mr A had taken them down before I realised. The battery 'candles' will stay out until the batteries die. Loved having them up but now they're down I feel like we're moving forward into a new year.

NotSpaghetti

Thank you Welshy.
They are quite simple to make and I love that they are so curvy and 3D.
I found a tutorial online. Mine are plain white this year (computer paper). The biggest are easiest and from A4 sheets. They come out at about 50cms - but the tiny ones were fiddly.

But well worth it

I'm quite minimalist with decorations and have always taken them down by midnight on New Year's Eve....my mum did that and it was a 'habit' I adopted although my brother doesn't have any and my son leaves his until the 12th night.
Each to their own....

Ours started coming down on 27th when our son, daughter and grandchildren left. All down now as we're away for a week. When they stayed longer or when they lived at home we took them down on 6th January.

The gales brought our Christmas on the balcony down on New Year’s Eve breaking the base. So everything got taken down dismantled and put away neatly.
Ever thrifty DH loves having a tree even an artificial one so was soon off to the sales. Our last one had survived 30 years , so had cost us about £2 a year. The new one has cost the same, hope it will see us out.

It's always been the 6th January in our family and that was always referred to as 12th night. Interesting that someone tied it up to Catholic belief as my grandmother was a Catholic and very superstitious.

I take decorations down end of Dec, partly because otherwise they are up twice in one year but more importantly because my son's bday is at the beginning of January and when he was younger I wanted him.to have his own individual day, not lumped in with Christmas.
His due date was end January so caught us all out

Finished taking the decorations down yesterday 6th and now looks so bare and in need of a good clean and the annual New Year declutter. (I do several a year!) Nice big bag for the charity shop now! More to come I hope. Ruin it every year by buying a ‘treat’ for the home in the sales, something small but cheering that I can admire in the post Christmas barrenness! Last year it was a new lamp, this year it is a lovely black deer figure (I collect them). Will remind me of past celebration while looking ahead to a brighter New Year once my illnesses are hopefully resolved!

My Mother firmly believed in everything down by 6th Jan. 41 years ago my Father died on 7th January and Mom found some Holly she had missed, said that was the bad luck causing his death that day! Ever since I always ensure all my decorations are down and packed away by 6th and scour the house to ensure nothing left. This year it was done by 2nd. I am by actually writing this on 7th!😢

Strictly , Epiphany according to Catholics so 6th January .
But our church decorations were taken down on 4th , because it was convenient .
I think that for most people it's a matter of convenience .
I took my outside ones down yesterday , but this year my real rooted tree is so pretty that I've left it up for now .
I've decided that I'm going to have an Easter tree !

One of my friends keeps her curtains closed out of embarrassment , because she loves her Christmas tree so much that it stays up until Easter when she can put more decorations up .
I thought hiw depressing the dark streets are now the twinkly lights are down .

It’s the 7th and we have a visitor so wanted to keep our decorations up until the end of the visit later today. We’ll risk the bad luck!

I also took mine down yesterday (6th) it looks so bare now.

I see my neighbour opposite still has Christmas ornaments and lights up though.

My DIL also told me her neighbour/friend took theirs down on Boxing day and they have 2 small children.

But as they say, each to their own

Dearknees1

It’s the 7th and we have a visitor so wanted to keep our decorations up until the end of the visit later today. We’ll risk the bad luck!

Dearknees1: Are you my neighbour

Why can’t you just take them down when you’ve had enough of them?! I usually take ours down on or around January 1st because to me by then it’s all over. Colder European countries I have visited call them winter decorations and don’t seem to take them down until February. Surely the choice is yours.

Bazza

Why can’t you just take them down when you’ve had enough of them?! I usually take ours down on or around January 1st because to me by then it’s all over. Colder European countries I have visited call them winter decorations and don’t seem to take them down until February. Surely the choice is yours.

Of course the choice is yours. As I said above 'each to their own'

My sister usually takes hers down on New Years day.

I was talking about Traditions.

They are supposed to come down BY 12th night, not ON 12th Night….i have always understood 12th night to be 5th January

I never put any up. It saves a lot of hassle.

Nephew took down his xmas tree a few days ago to the evident annoyance of the cat who keeps going over to sniff in the place where it was! He liked to sit watching the blinking lights - cat not nephew.

Lin663

They are supposed to come down BY 12th night, not ON 12th Night….i have always understood 12th night to be 5th January

This is what I said in my initial post. Is it the 5th or the 6th. ON or BY.

I did what my mother always did. On the 6th. But if I had got fed up with them prior, they would have come down earlier.
But I never do get fed up of them

I took mine down on the 6th,Epiphany, my partners birthday is on the 7th, so all decorations are gone. I also do a deep clean and organise all the Dec's in boxes for ease next year.

I was brought up to believe that if you didn’t take your decorations down they needed to stay up all year to keep bad luck away. Anyone else heard this?

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We turned the lights off on the 5th and took everything down yesterday

There are no hard rules - at least in my house. But generally outside lights go up the weekend before Thanksgiving and indoor Christmas comes out after T’giv. Everything is finished by the first wknd in December.

Now, about putting it all away… that’s where it really fluctuates. Outside is off after New Year’s but indoors is more like “Mmm, take your time.”

When I moved into my condo 23 yrs ago, it was beautiful during the holidays. Now there are fewer lights outside. Are they lazy or non-believers? Too bad.
USA Gundy

Nothing wrong with keeping the decorations up if it gives you pleasure. I used to know someone who kept them up permanently.

There is a wonderful shop in Saltzburg which sells the most beautiful hand made decorations the year round. There are people who collect the vintage ones.