Christmas is over. Although, since the season technically lasts until January 6, I should say I am over Christmas. After weeks of shopping, wrapping, baking, cooking, and cleaning, I’m ready to call it quits. Are you the kind of person who takes the tree down on Christmas night with wrapping paper still strewn about the floor? Or the more traditional sort, who leaves the house decorated for as long as you can? Do you pack everything away neatly in labeled containers
or shove it all into a box to be sorted out next year?
Deadsplinters, please tell me you aren’t the house with the lights up year-round!
I like to have the tree and decorations up for a bit; decorate the Friday after Thanksgiving and take it all down on the closest day off of work to New Year’s. The living room always looks so big when the tree is down and the furniture is back in place (it isn’t a large space). I have boxes and bins, labeled and organized, for all the holiday decor…
I admire your organizational skills. Every year I say I’m going to do that but by the time Christmas is over I’m too tired to deal with it. I wasn’t able to get to my ornaments at all this year because furniture was still in the garage from the construction until a week before Christmas. So I didn’t bother. Maybe I should buy some bins and have them ready to label when I get everything out next year.
After New Years – we will unplug the tree and move it out of the way into a corner. We will then take the garland off the lower railing of the porch leaving the globe lights up that hang around the ceiling – those stay up year round because I like the warm soft light. That’s pretty much it – we live in an old house that has very little storage – so that’s how we justify our laziness.
I have colored lights on a ficus that I leave on year round. I plug it in whenever people come over because I think it’s cute. And I have fairy lights year round on my patio so I guess I need to apologize for the crack about leaving Lights up year round since I’m guilty of it too!
I start slowly taking things down after new yrs. I only have 2 bins for tree stuff and decor, plus the tree itself and the door wreath.
I tossed out a lot of stuff last year so I’m down to around three bins. I just had new siding put up so I think I want to do more outside decorating next year since I don’t hate the way my exterior looks as much. I should get some stuff now while it’s on sale.
I figure I’ll do it next weekend – 12 day of Christmas and all, I mean.
When I lived in the northern part of the country everyone left the decorations up until at least New Years Day. Living in different parts of the south it seems like a shorter holiday season.
the tree goes out when it starts looking too sad……sometimes thats pretty much…februari
the other decorations tend to be dissapeared after new years eve
i just like having a tree in my living room
more holidays should require a tree in the living room
I agree with this. That’s why I have lights on my ficus. 🙂
I took the outdoor lights down yesterday because I was on a cross-things-off-my-to-do-list tear. The rest of the stuff gradually gets taken down until most of it is packed up by the first week of January.
Sometimes you have to get those lights down while the weather allows. The inside stuff can be put away even if it is snowing.
It has finally warmed up to 21 degrees! That is stupid cold in these parts so lights are staying up until the snow melts. Usually the wife has taken down the tree by now but since the sliding door we would drag the tree out of has a 6″ snowbank, that is delayed too.
Mother Nature doesn’t care about your plans, lol.
Christmas is over at my house. Tree is away, ornaments are wrapped in tissue paper and everything is in plastic bins down in the basement. I put the tree up very early this year, so I was ready to be done with it.
I got my tree up late and I was still ready to be done with it. I blame holiday construction for my grinchiness this year. When the contractors promise you they’ll be done before Thanksgiving and Christmas do not believe them, they lie!
How long the decorations stay up each year is directly related to my mental health in December-January. This year I’m doing pretty good, so I’ll probably take it down this Friday since I’m off work. If it’s not a good year, I leave it up longer because the sparkly lights make me happy.
As for storage – a few years ago I bought a few plastic totes from ye olde Target that are red with green lids. So all the Christmas stuff gets shoved in those.
I bought a couple of those a few years ago meaning to organize everything properly. I just shove everything in there any which way.
Wait is stuff supposed to be organized? Doesn’t putting it all in the holiday color totes count as organized?
UPDATE – half the lights on my prelit artificial tree have stopped working. I guess storing things for winter got a lot easier this year.
I had the same thing happen!