# Have you taken down your Christmas tree yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959 "2016-01-12T20:23:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/1 "2016-01-12T20:23:01Z")
I just got around to taking ours down today. I meant to do it last weekend but didn’t get around to it. It’s a little later than usual, but we like the lights, and I am lazy. When do you usually get around to taking down your Christmas tree? For the purposes of this poll, if you didn’t have a tree for any reason, whether you don’t celebrate Christmas, you are broke, or homeless, it all falls under “I didn’t have a Christmas tree.” For the purposes of this poll, there is no difference between real trees and fake trees, just when you got around to taking it down. For the purposes of this poll, you may either answer what you did/plan to do this year, what you did last year, or what you generally do every year. PTF ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/2 "2016-01-12T20:28:28Z")
Hell no. Though it may go soon. On the other hand the outdoor lights are staying till late Feb if I can help it. Winter depresses the crap out of me and I like the festive lights. I actually go out a dozen or so times every night just to look at them. PS. Last year we bought an artificial tree with “built in” lights. This year half the fuckers didn’t work, so I had to string it anyway. When this tree comes down all those POS lights are being cut out so as to not tempt me next year with “well maybe if I do this and this and this they will work”. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/3 "2016-01-12T20:40:45Z")
When I was a child, one year, my mother left the tree up until Easter. We were the talk of the neighborhood. But, that wasn’t unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/4 "2016-01-12T20:48:16Z")
No tree this year, and hopefully never again. When we did do that, I would get it out of the house by New Years. Sometimes by 12/26. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/5 "2016-01-12T20:54:58Z")
I’m curious. Why would anyone go to the trouble of putting up a tree and then taking it back down before Christmas? Is there some tradition here I’m missing? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/6 "2016-01-12T21:23:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m curious. Why would anyone go to the trouble of putting up a tree and then taking it back down before Christmas? Is there some tradition here I’m missing? I try to cover all the options, no matter how ridiculous. If I don’t, I invariably get some people who can’t parse any of the choices to apply to them. Just watch. It will happen here anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/7 "2016-01-12T21:38:41Z")
Not yet. I mean, I like to think I’d get the tree down right after Epiphany (when Christmas actually ends), but it usually survives waaaay past that. Though at the very least I’ll want it down before Lent… so, I have until Feb 10th, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/8 "2016-01-12T21:47:35Z")
Wife regards it as a kind of life preserver for her winter mood; it’s going to stay up at least through the end of February. ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/9 "2016-01-12T21:57:15Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Wife regards it as a kind of life preserver for her winter mood; it’s going to stay up at least through the end of February. I agree…we are now in the darkest, gloomiest part of winter. i like to see those colored lights…it makes me cheerful. My wife wants it down…I’d keep it up until St. paddy’s Day, if i could. ---
**Author:** ![pidgeon92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/10 "2016-01-12T22:30:00Z")
I like to see the tree up and lit through New Year’s Eve. My husband and I like to have a digestif after dinner and admire the tree in the evenings. I start removing other holiday decorations right after Christmas day, and remove the tree on New Year’s Day. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/11 "2016-01-12T23:10:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m curious. Why would anyone go to the trouble of putting up a tree and then taking it back down before Christmas? Is there some tradition here I’m missing? We did this a couple of years as we were traveling to Christmas in warmer climates (see the beach). We both grew up with a tree and so we would do our Christmas Eve+morning before we left. Taking out the tree was one of the last things we’d do before our flights- we would put it curbside; we’d just go back in, lock up, grab luggage, and depart, and invariably the tree was gone within the 5-10 minutes we were gone. We thought it was great to think of our two-use recycled tree! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/12 "2016-01-12T23:20:34Z")
The Roman Catholic Christmas season extends through the Baptism of the Lord (Sunday) so ours came down yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/13 "2016-01-13T01:08:39Z")
I have a little 6" high tree that plugs into my pc via a usb and I leave it up all year round. Watching the fiber optics tips change colors is soothing. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/14 "2016-01-13T01:24:25Z")
My 4’ artificial pre-lit tree usually stays up until New Year’s Day, with the rest of the decorations. I decorate on the day after Thanksgiving, and by January 1st I’m ready to be done with the holidays (and have my living room back). This year, though, I had practically no Christmas spirit and I took everything down on 12/26. (I chose “New Year’s Day” in the poll, since that’s what I usually do.) ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/15 "2016-01-13T01:27:44Z")
You missed an option - we have a potted tree, which we intend to plant in the community garden next door. But not just yet - it’s going below zero here tonight, so probably not until the ground defrosts in the spring. In the meantime, we should move it up to the kitchen window so it gets some sun (it’s about 2 feet tall). ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/16 "2016-01-13T01:38:31Z")
I live alone and don’t bother with a tree, but my Mom waited until Epiphany. She put it up the Sunday before Christmas – don’t remember what happened when Christmas was on a Monday ( the Sunday before perhaps ) Brian ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/17 "2016-01-13T01:41:58Z")
Not a Christian – have no Christmas tree. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/18 "2016-01-13T01:43:30Z")
5 January. 12th day of Christmas. Not sure why, just a thing. Drives other people crazy. They interrogate me as to why the tree is still up after NYE. And of course, that’s in an ideal scenario. In the real world it takes hours to pack everything away properly, so sometimes the tree is still up on, say, the 13th of January because I haven’t had the time to do it yet. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/19 "2016-01-13T02:24:11Z")
Mine always comes down on or before 6th January. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/20 "2016-01-13T02:36:00Z")
Other than cards we didn’t do a thing. When we did/do it usually comes down the weekend after New Years. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959.md?page=2)