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Back Road BearsSo, first thing hubby and I did Dec. 26, after rolling out of bed still feeling full from Christmas dinner the day before, was take the Christmas Tree and all the decorations down! What a great feeling to have my house back to 'normal'! I did leave the window lights up but that's it. Oh, and all the snowmen do-dads I collect... they are good thru the winter months. We vowed next year to get a tree (we get a live one) only 2 weeks before Christmas, not 4 weeks..... the branches were drooping, 3 ornaments fell off yesterday, the needles have been falling like autumn leaves and when we came down this morning the star had fallen off the top!! Yup, it was time!
Am I being bah-hum-bug-like? Do any of the rest of you take your decorations down this soon after Christmas???
Posts: 3,540Whoops!! That sounds more like it was in the best interests of the family to have that puppy stripped and chucked out the door ASAP. Having a fire hazard about the house is no way to start the New Year.... :bday:
Maybe next year you should go in for an artificial tree?? 
Past Time BearsBy ALL means, yes! The sooner I can get decorations down, the better!
Baird'sBears
So soon? I haven't got all of my decorations up yet!
I got the lights on the tree, and found the ornaments, but the hooks (as it turned out) were buried under tons of the YoungMarriedCouple's stuff. Lord knows I tried, but after getting brained with a falling KitchenAidMixer, I gave up. I did save the KitchenAid. I do have priorities.
I never got the outdoor lights up, or the door wreath hung, or found the multiple doodads that I usually festoon the house with. 
Christmas break for universities and high schools didn't begin until Friday, so I was tutoring my heart out until 5 pm on the 22nd, an hour before the last deadline!
However, I've got to leave the tree up for the animals. They love it. Especially the rabbits, who have more or less colonized it!
Eileen
Posts: 8,574Aww Daphne,
I have to confess, and I am sorry for not having more faith in you, my darling, I thought you were going to whine about not having packages to open when i ready your title.
I'm sorry.
forgive me?
We didn't put a tree up this year.....in fact the only thing I did was put up this silly teddybear that is dressed like an elf and when you plug him in he has all these fiber optic lights all over the place.
I bought him from my hairdresser last year
That was enough. And he will be easy to put away too.
Hmmmm
That and I made my first Father Christmas.....Yep, toss both those puppies in a box and I'm done!
Easy as pie.
I didn't even make a pie this year and my blessed hubster never complained a bit- i bought all the cookies off the internet-mostly because I surely couldn't have made them this year and the only thing you get at the store around here would be "Mother's"
I did miss the decorations, but don't miss having to put them, away!
dilu
Wild Thyme OriginalsOurs is still up.... even as big as it is, it's been lasting fairly well. It drinks about a gallon of water every single day! Anyway, we are Orthodox, so we are going to try to leave it up until Orthodox Christmas.... I think it's January 7th. So, I can buy Christmas cards now while they are 75% off, and still get them mailed out and be "on time!" The Christmas tree really isn't Coptic, so we could take it down before then... we'll see how long it lasts. I converted right before I married my husband, so for me, Baby Jesus and gift giving and Santa, etc... etc... are still all pretty much on the 25th, but we do go to Coptic Christmas mass and celebrate the religious portion. It is kind of nice to really be able to concentrate on the spiritual aspects of the holiday on a separate day....
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Back Road BearsDilu - I didn't realize I was that much of a whiner here.... or materialistic sounding person. I'm sorry you have thought of me that way, Dilu.
Kim B. - It does sound nice to be able to focus on the secular version and religious meaning of Christmas on separate days. I'm all for getting back to the 'reason for the season' myself. All the secular stuff is fun but exhausting!!!! (Oh dear, was that whining?) :redface:
Patsy Lake BearsDaphne it takes so long to get them up that I couldn't bear to take them down so soon .... I do leave them up untill the 6th Jan.....it is what my parents did and I have just followed... Twelve days of Christmas
Posts: 8,574No No Sweetheart....you aren't, perhaps I used the wrong word?
I thought this was a continuation of the story we all enjoyed so much! And of course, the otherside of opening presents early is not having them to open....and your hubster calling your bluff etc......
I didn't mean that you really whine I thought it was going to be more play whineing.....does that make sense?
I was expecting more of your funny tale.....and then when it was something so sensible....
Please forgive my clumsiness in how I phrased it....I can be such a klutz, physically and mentally.
I am sorry, Daphne, you are funny and delightful-
a very chagrined and sorrowful dilu
Apple Dumpling DesignsI was/am so ready for Christmas to be over. My tree is still up ONLY because after paying a small fortune for it I figure I might as well get my money out it...and it's only been up a week...and it's really beautiful this year.
So...364 days until Christmas...YEAH!!!!
Winneybears and FriendsI usually put the tree up 1 week before CHristmas and then leave it up for one week after...right into the new year....or whatever.
I once had a German boyfriend that built a 3 story German / Tuder/ house with a medival tower which was actually a stone spiral staircase for all 3 floors...well... that place was so dang cold inside....a cool 58 degrees in the basement....just freezing up staira !
He had a huge wood stove in the basement but would close that staircase off with a blanket to keep the heat downstairs. Now...what does this all have to do with Christmas and the tree ? I put up the tree for him then he would leave it up til April or so...it was so cold in there it never wilted...ho, ho, ho....Winney
Back Road BearsDilu - Yes, I can see how part 2 to the bear in the box story would be expected..... sorry to take it the wrong way!
:hug: :hug: 
:hug: :hug:
Jazzy RagsDilu your in trouble now 
Flying Fur StudiosI also put the tree up about a week before xmas and take everything down right after the new year.
But it will be nice to get our house back.
Kim, ha ha ha h. I was wondering how your tree was. A gallon of water a day! What a beast. Please share your store once you take it out of the house. Should be fun! 
Annapolis, MarylandWow - I am so surprised that so many people take their tree down so soon. Our family always put ours up around Dec. 10 or so, and took it down in the first week of Jan. like many of you all....
This year is a first for me... I'm using my sister's 25 year old artificial tree.
It was onstage in my local theater company's Christmas show until Dec. 3rd, when I tossed it into the back of a truck and brought it home, lights and all. I hate putting the lights on! It was so sad looking when it got here, but it's beautiful now!
I'm leaving it up until mid FEBRUARY this year!! because it is going back into a truck and back onstage for our next play!! I had no idea that our March play had a Christmas scene too. It's for "The Man Who Came To Dinner". I guess I should have watched the old movie.
If I take it down before then, I'll only have to put up with it laying around, undecorated. I don't have anywhere to store it. :doh:
I love the dreamy quality of a lit tree in a darkened room. So peaceful. (I will take down the other decorations soon though.)
Still loving Christmas!
Lynne
Bine-TeddiesDifferent traditions in different places. Here in Sweden(and in Germany) we buy our tree a few days (or a week) before Christmas, but put it up on Dec 24th. Then we leave it at least over New Year. In Sweden tradition says it should be taken out on the 13th day after Christmas, which must be similar to your 12 days of Christmas. There is no song or ryme about that though. In Germany we don't have these 12 days, but often keep the tree for about that time span.
I have a tiny tree on a table in a corner between my small sofas. It has tiny lights and small decorations. This year its a fresh tree, as opposed to last year's which dropped its needles as soon as we took it in.
I'm on vacation so for me Christmas continues until Jan 8th. 
Pandy Potter BearsTher was an article in the newspaper yesterday saying we start and finish Christmas too early. For me I feel I need to keep it going. I usually take them down (a job I hate) when Amy goes back to school which is next Tuesday. So I will probably take them down Monday. In Europe they have a big celebration later, in Scotland New Years Eve is a biggy. Don't worry its up to us all how we play it, as long as you enjoy it!
Bear Paws by RoxanneGenerally I leave my tree up until after the New Year, but this year we took it down early.
For one, I am starting to get a stiff neck from trying to watch my television. You know, we have to move furniture to accommodate for the tree! Kinda messes up the "Feng Shui", if ya know what I mean
The lights are still on the house though, gotta get the hubster to take them down this weekend.
Posts: 1,277I'm in no rush to take down my tree. I'm sure it'll be up for a couple weeks. I don't mind it taking up the space and I just love having it lit. My family never had a rule of thumb to go by as far as taking it down. My fiancee, however, likes to stay with his traditions as much as possible. I can't remember for sure, but I think his family left it up all through January.
Back Road BearsI'd leave our tree up longer if: a) it was artificial and b) it didn't hog up so much of our livingroom.
I have an artificial ficus... a nice looking one, not too tacky... that lives in our dining room which I put tiny little white lights on so I have that on year round for atmosphere. There is something nice about a lit tree!
Apple Dumpling DesignsI do miss the lights when they are all put away for another year. It does create a nice glow...although I have a hard time with the twinkling ones anymore...migraine makers.
Wild Thyme OriginalsSHANTELL!!!! Is that the panda that gave you such fits? It's gorgeous!!!!!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Country BearsOoooh my tree's gone already :dance: :clap: I've got a tiny house and it's nice to get everything back to normal!!
I CAN'T STAND Christmas past Christmas day, all the excitement and anticipation's gone......
Just my personal opinion though you understand
I hope you've all had a wonderful time!!
LuxembearsWeeeelll. I am just too darn lazy to take things down rigth away. I usually like every down and put away for the new year...out with the old...in with the new. It is funny to see Christmas lights still on in Feb...some people just really like them I guess. I don't like to drag the old year into the new year.
Did any of you see the Christmas lights show in sync with Trans Siberian Orchestras the Wizard? It has been going around in emails. It is fantastic!!!
Past Time BearsYes, Judi . . . I saw it and if you go to snopes.com, it has the same house lights synchronized to Barbra Streisand's "Jingle Bells"! Awesome and amazing!
