I always wonder when I should take my Christmas lights down. As some Catholics do they wait until "el dia de los magos" "the day of the magi". But, it seems to me that not too many wait that long. What do you guys think, should it be the day after the actual New Year or a little longer.


What DO YOU DO?

I don't put up lights so that I don't have to deal with these dilemmas. Plus, I've become lazy and don't want to have to take them back down.

Since I am off for New Year's Day that is when I usually take them down. I put them up Thanksgiving weekend(not turned on).

I don't want to burn a day of a 2 day weekend messing with them. Wife does all of the inside decorating while I'm at work

I usually take them down on Old Christmas (Jan 6th).

I also don’t put up Christmas lights.

We're New Year's Eve people, but the Epiphany is appropriate. They should be down before MLK Day at the latest.

(01-03-2024 05:06 PM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  We're New Year's Eve people, but they should be down before MLK Day.

gotta love those 24/7/365.25 folk, eh?! ... welcome to mexico ...

My Christmas decorations come down on December 26th. If the kids are gone early enough I’ve been known to take it down Christmas night. Especially if it’s a live tree.

(01-03-2024 05:09 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  My Christmas decorations come down on December 26th. If the kids are gone early enough I’ve been known to take it down Christmas night. Especially if it’s a live tree.

Wow, and I was feeling bad about taking them down today. Well, at least I'm starting to.

(01-03-2024 06:03 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 05:09 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  My Christmas decorations come down on December 26th. If the kids are gone early enough I’ve been known to take it down Christmas night. Especially if it’s a live tree.

Wow, and I was feeling bad about taking them down today. Well, at least I'm starting to.

We had live trees when the kids were small. We would go out the day after Thanksgiving select the tree, cut it down, bring it home and decorate it.

That meant the tree was usually in the house for 4 weeks, sometimes closer to 5. For safety reasons I would take it down and get it out of the house as quickly as possible.

Now that the kids are all grown we have two artificial trees but still take them down quickly.

I don't put Christmas lights up or take them down.

(01-03-2024 03:18 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  I always wonder when I should take my Christmas lights down. As some Catholics do they wait until "el dia de los magos" "the day of the magi". But, it seems to me that not too many wait that long. What do you guys think, should it be the day after the actual New Year or a little longer.


What DO YOU DO?

Keep the lights up. Call them Fiesta Lights between mid January and thanksgiving.

(01-04-2024 06:55 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  I don't put Christmas lights up or take them down.

I can't imagine you'd have the time

That is a job for Mama Smitty. I don't get involved in this process at all due to a very smart decision 25 years ago. I "helped" our first year of marriage. Broke a lot of crap, by accident of course, in the process, and did not place things where she wanted. Even hung the wreaths on the front windows with the bows all not uniformly aligned.

Has worked out very well for Christmas seasons ever since.

the Festivus Pole finds other uses throughout the year....

I grew up Episcopalian/Anglican in the deep south. The four weeks before Christmas were Advent. We would go to the back pasture on Christmas Eve, cut down a tree, bring it to the house and decorate it before going to Midnight Mass. We left it up until Epiphany (the day of the Magi, January 6). First Sunday after the Epiphany, our church would have a large tree-burning bonfire.

When I lived in the Chicago area, where it gets dark so early, I kept my light up until... St Patrick's Day or so. Granted, my lights were clear with some red (Valentine's Day) or some green (St Patrick's Day). It gets dark around 5 pm in Chicago and it lights the way for walking the dog, the children walking down the sidewalk, etc... The lights look great with the snow. I would take them down when I get a warm day.

The lights go up the day after Thanksgiving.

I am now in Raleigh, and my lights will come down on Sunday.

While they are Christmas lights, their function is Winter lights.

(01-05-2024 01:11 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  the Festivus Pole finds other uses throughout the year....

That's what she said.

Lights stay on until the completion of the 12 days of Christmas which is today. I don't know what the excuse is for all those days from Thanksgiving until the 25th.