How long do you keep your Christmas decorations up?

[Furls Fire]

Our tree will come down sometime after Tuesday (the Epiphany). Our outside lights stay up all year long, it's too hard to take them down in the winter. Russ hung them, oh I don't know, maybe 10 or 11 years ago, and they've been there ever since. I won't go into what happens if a few of them have burned out tho...hehehe

[deer of the dawn]

Took it all down yesterday. We are in the Harmattan season when dust covers everything that doesn't move (you can wipe the table and by morning write your name in it, when it's really bad). So rather than let the fake tree (sorry, no real ones in Nigeria) and ornaments get all grubby and dingy, I put it all away for next year.

[JazFusion]

Usually I take them all down a week after the New Year. I hate taking the decorations and tree down. This year they came down right after Xmas. 2008 was one of the crappiest Xmas' ever, so I was glad to see them go.

[Bruiser]

It's all packed the weekend after Christmas.

Wife rearranges furniture as she wants and we start the New Year fresh with a new outlook.

[Wyldewode]

Usually when I get to it. I took the ornaments off the tree last week, but now I just have to bring the containers out of storage so I can pack everything up.

[sgt.null]

julie gets to it around new year's day.

[aTOMiC]

Its nearing the end of September and we are starting to talk about our plans this year. We will begin putting up decorations around mid October but its for a good reason this year. Seems every year we host the family Christmas party and I have a huge family, 8 brothers and sisters, wives, husbands, children, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers etc.
We decorate in such a way that our house is thoroughly Christmas-a-fied and everyone that attends the party leaves saying that they can't wait to see what we do next year. That's a lot of pressure but we love Christmas so its a good thing. Now last year we tried to start decorating at what most would consider a reasonable starting time: The day after Thanksgiving. It was a near disaster with delays, rain days, sicknesses and was thoroughly exhausting trying to get it all done before the party which was in early December. So this year we decided to cut ourselves some slack and start early so we didn't get into a big, hectic rush near the end.

Having said all that I plan to start taking things down sometime right after Christmas Day and probably won't be finished until sometime after New Years. I might pay someone to do it for me next year.

[Cord Hurn]

I never put any up, so never have to worry about it.

[Sorus]

One of my old neighbors would leave their (thankfully artificial) tree up until Valentine's Day. In their front window, fully lit.

I saw a discarded tree (a real one, horrifyingly) this year sometime in April or May. Because apparently this neighborhood needs more fire hazards.

[peter]

Like Sarge I'm afraid I don't do the decorations myself. E puts them up around the twelve day mark before Christmas day and they come down a week or so after. Ours are pretty low key and it isn't unusual for them to be up a while before I even notice them - and I rarely notice when they come down. But I do love them while they are around!

[Skyweir]

Its nearing the end of September and we are starting to talk about our plans this year. We will begin putting up decorations around mid October but its for a good reason this year. Seems every year we host the family Christmas party and I have a huge family, 8 brothers and sisters, wives, husbands, children, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers etc.
We decorate in such a way that our house is thoroughly Christmas-a-fied and everyone that attends the party leaves saying that they can't wait to see what we do next year. That's a lot of pressure but we love Christmas so its a good thing. Now last year we tried to start decorating at what most would consider a reasonable starting time: The day after Thanksgiving. It was a near disaster with delays, rain days, sicknesses and was thoroughly exhausting trying to get it all done before the party which was in early December. So this year we decided to cut ourselves some slack and start early so we didn't get into a big, hectic rush near the end.

Having said all that I plan to start taking things down sometime right after Christmas Day and probably won't be finished until sometime after New Years. I might pay someone to do it for me next year.

Hahaha I'm with you!!! We fully Christmasify everything! But unlike you I start packing up end Jan, Feb ... mostly cos I just can't face it!!!! LOL and I'm ok with the house being xmassy!!

[Skyweir]

I think I mostly obsess with Xmas cos I miss my British roots, white Xmas etc. When I was a child it snowed every winter! 'Course it doesn't snow in winter in Oz but I put snowflake stickers on the windows! The kids love Xmas at our place because we make it a magical time

[peter]

Alas it never snows at Christmas anymore Skyweir! Now it's mainly still autumnal type stuff with the cold spells coming in January/February time. UK weather is plain weird these days!

[Avatar]

I never put any up, so never have to worry about it.

Yeah, that's my stance too.

--A

[Iolanthe]

Ours usually go up the weekend before Christmas. I do the tree while C does the rest (although we don't put much up these days). Many of our deccies used to belong to my parents and are getting a little worse for wear now.

They always come down on 12th night, 6th January, which also happens to be our wedding anniversary (45 years in January).

[peter]

Congrats in advance for your anniversary Iolanthe! Forty five years - wow!

[Avatar]

Haha, yeah, makes my 19 years look paltry.

--A

[StevieG]

We normally put up the tree and decorations during the first week of December. Our daughter has always helped, and dropped and smashed 2 or 3 decorations each year, so the supplies are diminishing! She's 12 now, but still somehow drops them...

19 years is a damn good effort Av 45 years is a very damn good impressive effort! We're 19 years married (25 years together). Wow, it feels like a long time

[Avatar]

Hahaha, I always say that some days it feels like we've been together forever, and some days it feels like it was just the other day. I suspect that's why it's worked.

(Gods know if you'd said 20 years ago we'd still be together, both of us would have laughed in your face. )

--A

[Sorus]

Congrats to all of you. I'm somewhere into over 30 years of being a cat lady, and that works for me.