The Holly & The Ivy

[ithildin]

One of the odder things about Utah is that nearly everyone has all their decorations, including their tree, down the day after Christmas. Most of our neighbours already have their stripped trees on the curb this morning. When I lived in California and B.C., most everyone left decorations up till New Year - or Epiphany, as the case may be. Though we didn't leave it up till then on purpose, just laziness [g]

So now I'm curious - when does your regional area normally take down the tree and such?

Comments

[mprice.livejournal.com]

No idea about here in Texas, because I haven't been out yet. ;-P

In my town in New York, they would have a mulcher set up at the Park's Department. You could take your live tree there and leave with as much free mulch as you wanted. They started after Christmas and went past New Year's Day. (Made it a lot easier when there were mounds of snow everywhere.) Most people left their tree up until the kids went back to school just after New Year's.

I do remember years when people would put their trees out and they would get covered with snow, sometimes staying buried until spring.

I like to leave mine up until the New Year. Usually because I don't put it up until late December and I just don't want to take it down right away.

[brightknightie.livejournal.com]

I like to keep my Christmas decorations up through Epiphany, when the timing of weekends and such for the task of undressing the tree allows, but I have an artificial tree (purchased by my parents before I was born, never a year unused) and so don't have to worry about it drying out or other perils of live trees.

Christmas just started yesterday, as Advent ended. How curious to take down all the decorations right as they finally come into season! :-)

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

Amen! That is exactly how I feel about Christmas.

[mprice.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Advent has ended, and the 12 days of Christmas have begun! I had friends who did not celebrate until Little Christmas (Epiphany). They said the advantage of that was being able to take advantage of the After Christmas sales. ;-D

[grachonok.livejournal.com]

For the half of of the country here the tree is 'the new year tree', not the 'Christmas tree', the heritage of USSR, and the New Year is traditionally the main holiday:). Besides, the main religuion here is orthodoxy, so the Christmas is on the 7th, after the New Year:). We used to put the tree up on 31st and down on 14th, after 'the Old New Year' (New Year on orthodox calendar), now me and lots of my friends try to put it up on 24th:). But the 14th still marks 'the end of winter holidays'.

[diamond9697.livejournal.com]

Not sure how they do it here in Toledo cause I haven't paid much attention. However back home in Southeastern WA, we tended to take them down the first weekend of the new year.

[bookaddict43.livejournal.com]

Most folks here have their tree up early December. Not before the seventh though!! (or maybe that's just me and some idea stuck in my head :)) Then the tree comes down after New Year's Day usually. Also most people have an artificial tree that gets put away for next year. When I first left home, Mum gave me 'our' tree, which was probably about 20 years old :D

[silverlightstar.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know; this is our first Christmas out on the "Wrong Coast".

In NC, some homes have them up all year long. :D

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

I knew someone in Missouri who decided to leave his hedgelights in all year. Until he trimmed the hedge that summer after.

[silverlightstar.livejournal.com]

That doesn't surprise me.

[reality-hammer.livejournal.com]

I noticed a lot more homes around here keeping lights up and turning them on during various holidays and seasonal events (solstice, etc.).

[silverlightstar.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, they change the color of the bulbs, but that's pushing it for a lot of people.

Some folks back home (NC) would use the white/colorless lights to decorate All Year Long(tm).

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

Most people here tend to take down their Christmas decorations on New Year's Day. Some of us wait until Epiphany (in our case it's deliberate). However, that said, we took down the hedge lights today - but that was in memory of the year we couldn't get the lights down until April because the snow never melted until then.

(OTOH, most folks also seem to put up their decorations on Thanksgiving - it's possible that they're sick of them by Boxing Day.)

[reality-hammer.livejournal.com]

Mostly the first trash day after New Year's. I like to leave mine up well in January. :D

[winks7985.livejournal.com]

a lot of folks who have real trees usually take them down sooner cuz of the needles. my parents will have theirs down and out by new years. the inside decorations will go about the same time, but the outside lights will stay up into january, usually until there is a decent break in the weather to take them down. (and snowed-over outdoor lights look awesome).

my little fake tree will stay up for a bit, and probably my indoor decorations as well. i'm not in any rush :D

[lara-everlong.livejournal.com]

I haven't decorated for Christmas in ages, and I can't say I really look at other people's either. But I am positive all the decorations are NOT down by the 26th! I have been to many a New Year's get together where the tree was still up, so at least until the new year...

[fkastrider.livejournal.com]

The tree comes down when we d@mn well feel like it, typically New Years Day (or there abouts). Back when we lived where I grew up (and my folks had a "real" tree), we cut off parts of limbs at a time and burned them in the big fireplace. (Not so safe a thing to do.)

The outside decorations get unplugged on New Years Day and come down when I can get at them through the snow. It won't be difficult this year as they are predicting (warm) rain for New Years.

The rope light inside/under the eaves of the porch now stays up year round as it provides the equivalent of a 7 watt night light to dimly light the porch. (A safety precaution)

----

Completely off topic ... The Kings Speech was grand. Great company of actors (darcy, elizabeth, & mr collins are players, as are dumbledore, bellatrix, wormtail and many others including that guy from memento) and the setting is wonderful. Its almost as though the Weinstein brothers were allowed to film inside the palaces. You all will love it.

I find very funny the mechanistic approach the BBC announcer uses to prepare to speak. A bit over the top in my opinion.

[spiffikins]

My mom's birthday was December 1st, so growing up, when we had the artificial tree, we would put the tree up the first Saturday after her birthday.

We always took it down the Sunday before school started - some years that was as late as the 6th or 7th of January.

When I was in college, and we were putting up a real tree, I always tried to take everything down just before I left - it didn't seem fair to leave her the mess of the needles when it was my idea to get a real tree :D

This year I'll probably take my tree down next weekend.

[bleukittie.livejournal.com]

My little town is a little different. Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations go up right after Halloween, because Novermber is very rainy down here, particularly on weekends. The decorations are up until Mid January, but gone by Valentines Day, as those decorations are displayed. This area decorates for all holidays, it's amazing.

[birggitt.livejournal.com]

Well, in my country we usually put the tree and decorations up at December 8th (Immaculate Conception), and take them down at January 6th (Epiphany)
December 8th is a holiday here, so that helps to get the things going =D

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Where I grew up in Virginia, people seemed to take trees and outside decorations down on New Years day. The same seems to be holding true for Arizona.

Taking it down the day after Christmas, that just seems sad somehow.

[idontlikegravy.livejournal.com]

Twelfth Night. Don't know if that's a Welsh thing or a British thing as even though this is Dorset a lot of people on my street are Welsh!

I do think it's a Welsh superstition that if you leave them up after Twelfth Night then it's bad luck to take them down and you have to leave them for the whole year until next Christmas.

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

I think around the first of the year is when most go down around here. Up the day after Thanksgiving and down at New Year. Of course, one year I loved mine so much I kept it up until March. (plus I was dreading the work)

[jeymien.livejournal.com]

Manitoba, it's usually sometime in January AFTER Ukrainian Christmas. It could be we're just really lazy..or there's many Ukrainians :)