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It's all been put away for about 2 weeks now. All except the live poinsettia which is sitting on the table by the window. Its still a brilliant red and I'll keep it until I move it out onto the sun porch later after I know it won't freeze. Then I'll plant it in the front garden where it will spend the summer until frost gets it late next fall. That way we have a little Christmas all year long. They can stay red for months, BTW.
I am giving my daughter most of my current Christmas collection so it will help her next year in her own first home. She was MORE THAN WILLING to box it all up the day after Christmas!!
I'm buying NEW stuff next year for the tree....but won't have all the other knick knack stuff to keep up with.
We took everything down, boxed it up and put it away on New Year's Day. That's our family's traditional day for restoring the house to order and (relative) sanity.
Of course, I'm still finding oddments that need to be taken up to the attic and tucked into the tub of decorations. That generally goes on for at least a month.
We didn't do outdoor decorations this year, other than a wreath on the door, because the past two years we got so much snow that we couldn't get the outside lights down and put away until mid-March. And after our area got clobbered with 15 or so inches of snow on December 8-9, I was mighty glad we opted for a more minimalist look this year. Our neighbors all still have their outdoor lights up, and I expect they will until around St. Patrick's Day because the snow is still so deep.
As my grandmother, who never took her tree or decorations down until after Twelfth Night, would have said: "How can the Wise Men find the baby Jesus if your decorations are all gone?"
As my grandmother, who never took her tree or decorations down until after Twelfth Night, would have said: "How can the Wise Men find the baby Jesus if your decorations are all gone?"
You bring up an interesting point. Personally, I'm growing more and more disturbed by the rushing of the season, which is driven by commerce and is completely out-of-sync with the Christian foundation of the holiday. It seems as though the end of the year is one big party called HalloThanksMasEve!
For many years, I've been considering changing the way my family celebrates Christmas to align more closely with liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.
Anybody else celebrate Advent in their homes? We have slowly been integrating traditions like an Advent wreath and creche, which we build piece by piece throughout the season. What do you do?
I took them down two days after Christmas We still have neighbors that have them up
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We still have neighbors that have them up
