So when do you clean it all up?

When do you take down all your Christmas decorations?? Do you wait until New Years Day? or the day before??
I can't remember what the old saying is about "when" to take it all down?? Is it that you aren't suppose to let the Christmas tree see the new year? Meaning take it down "before" New Years Day? OR is it that you are suppose to let it stay up until after the New Year?
Still wondering when I should take it all down!

I'm Catholic, so I usually wait until the Epiphany is celebrated, usually the first weekend after New Years. Hope this helps some.

Oh, Epiphany is the celebration of the coming of the Wise Men to the stable.

I don't even think about it til mid January!

Thanks ya'll!

i take my tree down as soon as it stops drinking water by the gallons, so there realy isnt a date for that because you never know how old the tree is when you get it unless you cut it your self.... taking it down when it wont drink any more realy cuts down on the mess

I think about Memorial Day is a good time. LOL Jo

LOL Jo!

i new a guy in ca. that had his tree on a dolly and when he was done with it for the x-mass holiday he put a sheet over it and rolled it in to a closet .

Always the weekend after New Years. I kind a dread it. We have a tree trimming party and get all our friends to put it up -- maybe we should have a tree untrimming party and get them to take it all down. (hehehe)

Hollymart...my DD does that too....she leaves the lights on and takes the ornaments off...and we sewed two old sheets together to make a "bag" to cover it and she puts it in her storage shed until needed again. SAves alot of work attaching all those branches and lights again./ Jo

We procrastinate, and it's not been unknown for our tree to sort of blend in with all the furniture, unseen, until the end of January. That's not typical, though. This year will be a cinch, for we've only got a little 2' tall one in the living room and no other decorations! Next year, we think we'll have all little trees, each in a different theme and placed in various parts of the living room and around the house. Clean-up will be as easy as removing the ornaments and putting the trees in their little boxes, whole!

Everything must be down by January 6th, or the goblins get into it.

roadrunner
you just made me laugh out loud , this tree i was talking about WAS real and let me tell you he left everything on the thing. although i must say there wasnt a lick of green left on it but he used it just the same the next year
i wish i had a pic for you it was pitiful

One year I decided to have a traditional Twelfth Night Party. This was something that our church (Anglican) had when I was young and I remember them so fondly. So I did a lot of research on it and this is what they had to say: Just before midnight on the 5th of January (the 12th night of Christmas) the revelers undress the tree, take it out to the street and throw it on the pile with all the neighbors' trees. Have a huge bonfire and drink Wassail and bury the hatchet with anyone that you've had a conflict with in the past year. I happened to be living right on the Russian River in No Cal at the time in a small community, 5 miles down a winding road through redwoods from the nearest town. So we did it, as a neighborhood, and it was an absolute blast! One of the other stipulations is that you have to dress in Shakesperean attire and play the roll of whoever you dressed up as. The hostess picks a "Chief Mischief Maker" to keep the party happening (being relatively new to DG I can only guess that that person maybe would be Horseshoe?). Anyway, I found a whole new wonderful way to have a party. Unfortunately, I don't think the City of Laguna Beach would be too pleased with me if I encouraged the neighbors to build bonfires in the streets at midnight, do you? But, to answer the question, I guess the time-honored method for getting rid of the Christmas tree would have to fall on January 5th, the night before Epiphany.

Mine usually comes down January 6th also. Last year, it was joined in the yard by the neighbors trees, for a bird haven; I will probably do the same thing this year-that gives the brush people a break on my street until spring!

WELL I DONT GO OUT AND BURN MY TREE BUT WE DO HAVE A BURN PIT IN THE BACK FOURTY THAT WE DO BURN OUR BOXS AND SMALL STICKS, ALL OUR NEIGHBORS MAKE SURE THAT WE KNOW WHERE THERE WATER LINES ARE

I have a live potted tree this year so we will take it down later today and plant it in the yard. I already have next years tree picked out and reserved at our favorite conifer nursery. This way we get some new trees for our yard and I might just get it all put away before June!!!!

I have a vivid memory of one year's tree. It was 1964, and I had a baby on February 28. The tree was still up, as I had worked lots of overtime at the phone company until about two weeks before delivery. That DH was the champion of procrastinators, and he promised daily that the tree would be down before I came home from work. (He was unemployed.)So when I brought the new daughter home from the hospital, she was mesmerized by the lights on the tree. In mid-March, I told him he should begin looking for some plastic eggs to hang on "his" tree, because it obviously was a permanent decoration and would need seasonal changes. We moved as soon as school was out, and I refused to allow the tree to be loaded onto the truck. I would have loved to see the faces of the new owners when they arrived and saw that huge tree standing in the large front window.

Usually by the end of January mine is down, several were up into the beginning of Feb. But as long as the needles aren't dropping, I leave it alone. I just hate to see the season end!

Aimee, I feel completely vindicated! What a great story!

We usually take down the tree and decorations within the first week of January. We gave up on lives trees, since these local spruce loose their needles soon after they are cut. It was a concession for me to have an artificial tree, but it makes my DH happy. Instead I buy a cedar wreath for the door, and that stays until much later.

I laughed at the stories about the closeted tree. It didn't even occur to me at first that it was not an artificial tree! It must have looked like a bottle brush in drag by the second year! Aimee, your story was wonderful. Sometimes procrastination breeds inovative thinking. I'm sure the baby thought it was an awesome sight!

I agree with all the twelfth nighters. Those decorations need to be down by January 6th or.............else
;)

That former spouse felt vindicated, too, GW, when we moved to Austin in 1967, and he discovered a little Mexican cantina whose owner never ever took down the Christmas decor. It was up and blinking permanently, and, I might add, quite dusty. Customers were encouraged to bring in souvenirs from around the world to hang on the tree, so it was actually a museum of sorts. The only thing that saved me from a similar fate was the allergy tests hubby took. He had an extremely sensitive respiratory system which threatened to shut down when exposed to most forms of dust inside buildings.

I tried last year to take down the tree but DH loves it so much I left it up till almost Valentine's Day. It's fake of course.

This year we have two new trees - wire light trees I got from DH!! one multi and 4 feet tall in the back of our house and one 7 feet tall with pale blue lights on it - that one is on the patio behind the white tree with white lights.

I love these so much I may leave them up forever.
Thinking they'd be entertaining in the summer for parties and such. !

They sound beautiful! Can you see the ones on the patio from the house?

In Finland, we have a tradition, to take the Christmas decorations and tree out on 13th January, it's the nameday of Nuutti. We have an old saying "Hyvä Tuomas joulun tuopi, paha Nuutti pois sen viepi", it means "Good Thomas brings the Christmas, bad Nuutti takes it away". So we clean everything up (except the outdoor lights, they might be on their places even until May first, or April or something) on Nuutti's day.

We have a nice Christmas tree this year, it hasn't dropped any needles. It isn't and ordinary spruce though.

This message was edited Saturday, Dec 28th 6:27 PM

That's really interesting, Evert. Now, who is Nuutti? By the way, is your name pronounced Eeeevert or Eh-vert? I've been meaning to ask you, and your nameday comment sparked my memory!

You're too funny "roadrunner"
I'm catholic usually abide by the rules.... well almost!

Hmm, Nuutti - it's a man's name, have never heard anyone having it though.. Maybe he was somekind of a saga-person from the ancient times or something =)

It's pronounced Eevert, Swedes say it Evärt :}

Go to http://www.mikropuhe.com/demo.asp?f=1593154361648 and write "Eevert" there, and kilk, "Kuuntele puhe". The robot voice will give you an idea how to say it ;)

For those of you who have real trees, or wish you did, http://davesgarden.com/t/370064/

whenever the time is right or the mood hits us! No special day for us-no special meaning! Just whenever we can fit it into our lives! ;]
this yr its looking to be after the new yr! i may blindfold it so it doesnt see the new yr! ;]
id like to get everything put away and get some seedtrrrays out!!!!!!!!

Evert, I've wondered how to pronounce your name forever, thanks for the link!!!

This is the first year our tree is gone this soon. We've had artificial for about 15 years, wore it out and got a real tree this year. Now to get down the garland and all my scenes!

Thanks, Evert. I doubt I can quite get that rolling R right, but I'll try! :)

Evert: That was a great link! The double "E" almost sounds like our hard "A" sound or a combination of hard "A" and hard "E".

The day after New Years Day it is OVER! and down come all the decos 'til next season.

Yea I think I have about decided that the day after is when I am going to take it all down.

Evert, That was neat. I didn't hear the "t" sound. Is it dropped?

I heard it - maybe it's tired of saying it, LOL!

Yes weez, to us, your E sounds like "ii", and I like "ai", and y like "wai", etc.
And it has the Finnish R in it, right ;)

I can hear the T..?