When to Take It All Down

When should the lights come down now that Christmas is over? Even though it's still the Christmas season, the debate starts in our house on Dec.26th. as to which day we should take down our decorations.

I remember as a kid, there were times where our tree stayed up until February 1st. I love the way our house looks at Christmas. We put up three trees and every room in the house has at least a little hint of Christmas in it. If my wife had her way, the Christmas trees would all be gone two days after Christmas. We try and compromise when it comes to the real tree. We usually bring that down sometime during the week following Christmas. I keep telling my wife, we should just leave the decorations up all year round. That way, we won't have to spend 48 hours putting it all up again next season. I know, I too am kind of shocked that she stays with me.

Outside lights and decorations are another debate altogether. A new survey conducted by BuzzFeed, says that a 'responsible person 'should take down their decorations sometime in mid-January. At least 58% of the people in the survey stated that. 7% said you can wait until February, and 3% said you should get rid of them on December 26th.

When it comes to our outdoor lights, I usually leave them lit through January 7th. That is Russian Christmas or Julian Calendar Christmas. Even though we don't celebrate Russian Christmas, I know people who do, so we leave the lights on until January 8th. As for taking them down, that is all weather permitting. I'm not going to be out there when the wind chill is minus 10 taking down Christmas decorations. If the weather doesn't cooperate, they can stay up until spring for all I care. But usually, they're gone on the first 'warm' day of January.

When do you take down all your Christmas decorations?

By the way, that is NOT my house in the picture. But every time we drive by it, I tease my wife and tell her 'that's what I want ours to look like next year'.

[via BuzzFeed]