Usually I take it down after the Feast of the Epiphany but this year we put it up unusually early in December since we had several gatherings at the house. I'll probably take it down this weekend since DD is coming over and she can help me lug everything up into the attic.

I usually wait until New Year's Day but this year everything was put away on

Dec 26.

After old Christmas, Jan. 6th.

We took our tree down December 26, but will take everything else down the 1st or 2nd. We get a real tree, and get it early in Dec. I start to get nervous about it being too dry, and like to get it out of the house right after the big day.

We are Episcopalian, and totally get the whole "Epiphany is the end of Christmas" thing ...but I just can't stand keeping my decor up that long! :) I need to start the New Year all fresh.

Mine come down in the first week after New Year's Day. No matter how hard I search to make sure it's all accounted for though, I always seem to discover a stray ornament somewhere afterwards. It seems to be a rule;). The wintery as opposed to Santa-like outdoor lights come down mid to late January. I find them cheery on the dark winter nights.

We don't put our indoor decor up until mid-December, including a live tree. Outdoor lights are out up sometime in early December, whenever there is an unseasonably warm day. We used to leave everything up until Epiphany, but we have a large dog and the tree can be a bit of a nuisance with his tail wagging. So the tree comes down usually the day after New Years or as close to it as possible. I keep the indoor decor and outdoor lights up until Epiphany.

LOL, Embothrium. That made me think of the time we were invited to a close friends new girl friends house a couple of years ago. Her living room sparkling with shamrocks, green garlands, St Patricks day ornaments. It was July.

Yes, I left my outdoor deck railing lights up and won't take them down until it gets warm. I do turn keep having them on until DH puts a stop to it. I had some lights across the top of the windows in our loft at our last house. I never took them down - just quit turning them on. When we moved last year it was such a state of chaos that I just pulled them all down and threw them in a bag. No suitable place to put them in the new house so I finally put them back in the original boxes that they haven't been in for at least ten years. Very nice blue LED icicle type indoor lights that I hope to find a place for - maybe at our lake home.

March, maybe April.

High five, cawaps! Mine once actually stayed up til tax day. It was a bad year. ;-)

I always put up my tree and decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, so by the time Christmas is over, so is my mood for seeing holiday decor all over ;).

This year we bought a dehumidifier and it never occurred to me that using it daily, duh, would really dry that tree out. So by a couple of weeks prior to the holiday my tree was REALLY starting to brown and had that old-dry-tree smell.

I got the tree down on Tuesday and ornaments packed up but have had a series of distractions and haven't finished putting away all the decorations. I'll have it finished this weekend. My mother always said it was good to start the New Year fresh so that's my quasi-official deadline I suppose.

I used to live the tree up until Epiphany but now it comes down at New Years or right after - whenever SIL and DGS are available to do it. It may be later this year - they're in CA and don't get home until New Year's Day and I'm sure DD will have things for them to do on Mon, so it may be Wed when my yardman comes. Nearly all the magnolia is already gone - was dried out and ugly so it left on Wed when yard man was here.

We put the tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving and overdecorate the rest of the house on Thanksgiving. We start taking it down Christmas eve and it is all down on Christmas day, except the tree which is in an unheated addition, we leave it up for awhile. I like my decorations even though there are so many it makes me feel crowded and tried leaving them up until after Christmas one year. It didn't work when I got up I thought Christmas is over why are all these decorations still up.

I usually get it all down by the first week in January. I took the tree down today because it was so dry. DS's new girlfriend is flying in this weekend, so I didn't want to strip all the holiday decor out without having everything else back in place, so it'll stay till next week. I was a little late putting it up this year. I just realized i only lit up my little German Smoker guys once this year! Rip off!

If my house were bigger I'd like to keep the tree longer, but by now I'm sick of having my furniture displaced for the tree. It will come down on Sunday, along with all the other interior stuff. (And then we'll be moving everything else out of the living room, because it's being painted next week!) But we leave our outdoor wreath and lights up for at least another couple of weeks, as do most of our neighbors.

DD and I are in Florida with DGD for soccer. Left on Wedneaday so everything was taken down Monday and Tuesday after Christmas. Normally we leave it up until a day or two before Jan 1, but I wasn't about to come home to it late next week. I had a bunch of family at our house for Christmas brunch and I was already tired so it was a relief to get it down actually. I didn't even put as much out this year, knowing it was coming down pretty quickly.

It depends on when we get home from visiting our out-of-state family. One year, Christmas decor stayed up until January was almost over. This year, I've already removed all of it and packed it up, but it needs to be put back into storage.

Usually the weekend after the 6th. This year it will probably be the weekend of the 14th as I am out of town on the 7th/8th. I don't stress on getting it boxed up but I don't want it around for Valentine's Day either.

I'll start taking things down on Sunday but it usually takes a few days for DH to get everything back down to the basement, boxed and put away.

Decor doesn't go up until mid December, decor comes down the first weekend after New Year's. Although now that I am retired, I don't have to wait for the weekend. I think I'll do it Tuesday, so I can take it up to my future home on Wednesday. (This year I only put up stuff outside, too much going on inside...)

We leave it up until the weekend after the Epiphany...or later. We really enjoy keeping the outside lights on well into January. Helps light up the cold, dark nights.

There's an old tradition that says it's very bad luck to take down Christmas decorations before Twelfth Night (Epiphany), so we wait till then. But then we don't decorate till a week or two before Christmas.

We decorate for Christmas the beginning of December, except for the tree which goes up the middle of the month. It will all be put away tomorrow. I like spending New Year's Day making the house fresh and clean for the New Year

Outdoor decorations coming down tomorrow. The inside will be next weekend, I think.

I added another tree this year, so we've got our work cut out for us.

Our live tree and decorations always stay up until after Jan. 6. So we will take it all down next weekend.

Traditionally January 6. But I kind of like to leave it up through January. Januaries are very cold and dark here and it gives cheer to have the tree lights.

Tuesday will be the day. :)

Fresh tree went up 12/1. Probably coming down on Tuesday. Indoor decor too. The lighted deer will stay in the back yard for another month. I like seeing them at night.

Mardi Gras lights will replace white lights on front door garlands and a few more strings will complete indoor MG decor.

All done!!

DD called last night and said she was going to stop by after her haircut today. So last night I took all the ornaments off both trees and gathered all the other decorations and stacked them by the stairs. When she came over we quickly got everything up into the attic. We placed the trees by the curb where the township will pick them up on Tuesday and mulch them.

Hurrah - done for another year.

I used to leave it up through Epiphany, but was ready to get it down this year and have the house thoroughly cleaned. I finished the last of the ornaments today and DH will put everything in the attic tomorrow. The outside lights and wreaths will stay up until he decides to take it down.

We don't have a set time, but since culturally my DH celebrated their holiday on the January 1, we wait until at least the following weekend. I was not in the spirit much this year and am pretty anxious to get it down so we can move on.

I will take down the indoor stuff tomorrow. No tree so it is more like my being lazy today and not wanting to get the boxes out of the attic. But for years I would take the tree down and watch the rose parade

No later than January 4th, unless I want the HOA witch calling me.

I usually take it all down right after Twelfth Night, January 6th. DD has headed back to college by then, and I hate for her last days here at home to be filled with the chaos of taking down and repacking everything. This year, though, she graduated on December 16th. She still has her house there until the end of May when their lease is up, but without the necessity of getting back for classes, I'm not sure when she'll leave. Added to that, I've had "the-cold-from-hell" for the last two weeks, and, frankly, it's caused my usual happy post-Christmas spirit to quickly fizzle. I was ready for my fairy godmother to wave her magic wand and pack it all up for me on December 28th. Unfortunately, she never showed up, and I'm in no shape yet to do it. Bah humbug!

I wait until the 12th day of Christmas (Epiphany) like some others here. Drives hubby a little crazy, but it's just a little vintage aluminum tree nowadays & takes less than an hour to pack everything up.

I often wonder about the houses around here that never seem to take their outdoor lights down; are the residents Christmas-crazy, infirm, or lazy - or maybe they just don't care?

Lynn, I hope you are getting better. Be careful, my 'cold that dragged on' ended up being pneumonia. I'm on the mend but still not feeling like myself.

Lynn, Do you have a housecleaner? I usually do it, but I have a good housekeeper and sometimes she has done it for me. She does an even better job than I do. It might be a worthwhile indulgence if you aren't feeling well. TBH, it never would have occurred to me until she suggested it!

I will slowly pack it up this week. I am sick of looking at ti. I do like to put it away in some sort of order, so doing it a bit at a time works for me. My township comes around this week and next to chip up the Christmas trees by the curb. I have already seen a number of "dead soldiers" lying at the end of driveways. Poor things.

Our live trees have been up since the day after Thanksgiving, and they still look fresh. In fact, all of my greenery this year has done well with very little needle loss. I'm tempted to leave it all up another week... I really enjoy my holiday decorations and my trees. But it's time (according to DH). So <sob!> it's coming down this afternoon. It will probably take me a few days to pack up the ornaments and misc decor.

Usually we cut down our tree so it's pretty fresh, but this year DH bought it at a tree lot just a couple of days before Christmas, so it was already pretty dry. Then we went away for a few days right after the holiday, and when we got home on NYE I went to turn on the lights, and a flurry of dry needles whispered down. I did NOT want to risk turning on the lights! Tree can down on NYD, and the city just picked it up from the curb.

Today I put away the very Christmas-y stuff -- santas, angels, stockings -- but left the evergreen garlands and the lit garlands around the outside doors. We launch right into birthday season around here, so we still like a little festive coziness but don't want holiday collisions. Sometimes I bring out my snowmen to go along with the little green trees, but it's a weird winter this year and it just doesn't seem right to have snowmen indoors and green grass outdoors.

Oh, and whoever mentioned that they store their lights in gallon ziplok bags? Thank you! This is year 2 or 3 of doing that, and it is fabulous! Easy to take out just what you need, easy to put them away in their box!

Mtn : I wish I still had a housekeeper, but it's usually just DH and myself here, and we're easy to clean up after. But, wouldn't that make a great part time job for someone??? As much as I enjoy putting up my Christmas decs, I absolutely hate putting them away. I'd gladly pay someone to do it for me every year. I'm going to start looking for someone for next year. Great idea. Thanks!

Cattyles: thank you. This is/was the absolute worst cold I've ever had, by far! If it weren't for DH, this would have easily turned into pneumonia. I've been on nonstop Sudafed, Mucinex, Afrin, Tylenol (for the aches and pains), and throat lozenges for 15 days. DH says I caught cold #2 somewhere along the way and am now suffering through that. Thank goodness for Puffs and Chapstick! Ugh!

Lynn, I hope you are getting plenty of rest and feel better soon! I know your DH is taking good care of you. Idk how old you are, but I am 54 and caught a terrible cold in October. It seemed to take forever to recover and to get my energy back. I hadn't had a cold in years until then, and wonder if it was because I just forgot how awful they are or if as we get older it takes longer to recover.

I grew up putting up a live tree we cut from our property on Christmas Eve. It was taken down on the Epiphany. Once I was out on my own it was done on Thanksgiving night and taken down New Years day.

This year I was late getting it done and it moved into December. One of our "kids" hasn't seen it yet although we did see them on Christmas day and gave our gifts at Grandparents home. We will see them in a couple days at home so we are leaving it up until then. (Plus I kinda didn't feel like doing it yet !)

I used to be very stuck in a routine and while I am still type A, yet artistic which makes a weird combination, I have lightened up a lot. We are a blended family (our kids are all adults though) and have learned to not be so hard and fast.

One of our "kids" who has moved back with us was telling me that they like that I have gotten "easier" as far as every. single. ornament having to be in the totally right place. I am either more easy going or lazier!

I vote for "worse as we get older"! :-) on why our colds seem worse.

About an hour ago.

I intended to do it yesterday, but was sidetracked by friends who wanted to go out and watch football. I'm thinking I'll do it after work today, then realized I still have a few presents under the tree for Grandkids I didn't get to see. Now, I'm wondering if I should leave it until they visit (possibly the weekend).

Re housecleaners--that was another motivation for me to at least get my tree down last week; I did it the day before the incredibly efficient person who cleans for me came so she could really get everything scrubbed and vacuumed up :).

And about lights-after many years of carefully winding them around cardboard or storing in bags, and then taking them out the next year and trying to find strings that didn't have burnt bulbs and/ weren't twisted up....I am living the truly decadent lifestyle of buying several boxes of the 300-light strings from Home Depot, putting them on the tree and then THROWING THEM OUT. It makes me feel sorta guilty but mostly delighted to know that next year I will just spend another $10 and not have to worry or fuss with lights!

I finally got all my holiday decorations down, boxed and back in the garage loft on Monday. I use only red or green plastic bins that seal tightly, the color so they are easily identifiable and sealed so no critters or dust can get in. Each box is numbered and I long ago created a corresponding list of the box numbers with the contents of each in detail. I sometimes make a few changes in content so I update the printed list each year and one copy goes in the loft with the supplies, the other stays on my desk. Each year when it's time to decorate I know exactly which boxes have what, which makes it super easy to unload and unpack when I get ready to decorate. It sounds more complicated than it really is I suppose--was a bit of a chore to set up but has saved untold hours of aggravation over the years and makes the holiday effort a lot easier.

Controlling type A personality? Nah, not me.......lol

Runninginplace, I'm so glad you said it first. I have been known to buy the cheapest lights for fresh garlands and greenery. I really wrap well to hide the wires and then chunk it at the end of December instead of causing a pine needle blizzard. It does make me feel a little guilty but I get over it.