# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/21 "2016-01-13T02:48:54Z")
My SO wants to leave the tree up until Spring Festival so that her family might see it. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![pidgeon92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/22 "2016-01-13T03:01:48Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > Not a Christian – have no Christmas tree. I’m an atheist, and I’ve always had a Christmas tree. I love the Christmas season, have since I was a wee atheist. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/23 "2016-01-13T03:25:59Z")
I used to keep it up til Epiphany but the holidays were so blah this year, and the weather so wacky, I took it down on January 2. Most people I know did it then, too. I never really got in the Christmas spirit this year (well i sorta did but it was way early) and having the tree up wasn’t doing anything for me. It was 55 degrees this past Saturday. I took the outdoor lights down. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/24 "2016-01-13T03:51:28Z")
It’s still up, but we just had our last Christmas party on the 9th. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/25 "2016-01-13T03:57:52Z")
Couldn’t vote - there’s no button for ‘it varies’. ---
**Author:** ![mind\_the\_gap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/26 "2016-01-13T04:08:42Z")
It varies with me, this year was too rainy to hustle the thing outside before last Sunday. I tend to agree with some of the responses above that it’s a nice offset to the winter blues. After Christmas, it’s just winter. Blah. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/27 "2016-01-13T04:48:09Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > Not a Christian – have no Christmas tree. Not a Christian – have Christmas tree\*. \*though it’s fake What does a Germanic tradition have to do with baby Jesus anyhow? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/28 "2016-01-13T05:29:42Z")
We always put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and it comes down the weekend after New Year’s. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/29 "2016-01-13T06:09:31Z")
Took ours down on Monday but that was a combination of being lazy/busy (justifying the lazy portions with the busy portions). Normally, it’d be down within a week of New Years Day. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/30 "2016-01-13T13:25:24Z")
I didn’t have a tree, but I did put up a few decorations. They are still up, since they make me happy. I might leave the wreath up all winter (it’s turquoise and copper, with peacock feathers). ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/31 "2016-01-13T15:38:38Z")
I’m atheist now, but I was raised Lutheran, so the trees came down around Epiphany (Jan 6). That said, I’m a slackass and so my own tree is currently still up. I’m hoping to find time to get it down over the weekend. ETA - since other people are listing when they go up, it’s the traditional Thanksgiving evening activity - all the kids and un-sporty moms do the trees and decorations (and the first round of cookies!) while the menfolk and the sports-interested watch tv. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/32 "2016-01-13T15:46:37Z")
I have some vestigial Ukrainian heritage, used to celebrate Ukrainian Christmas (January 7th) with my family when there were more of the older generation alive. Now I leave the tree up until at least the 7th out of respect for tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/33 "2016-01-13T15:50:20Z")
This year, I bought a little fiber optic tree from a dollar store. It is still up. We didn’t decorate it with any kind of ornaments, so it doesn’t really look explicitly Xmassy. It would be more of a pain to try to pack it back in the box than it is worth (about $10), so we will probably just leave it up until the bulb burns out and toss it. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/34 "2016-01-13T17:12:33Z")
Mine is amusingly, half-up. It’s a cheap plastic tree, and this is the year we decided to retire it. Having just moved, however, we haven’t had room in the garbage can/recycle bin to get rid of it, so we are doing it piecemeal. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/35 "2016-01-13T21:01:32Z")
No, but I barely got it up in time. I have no idea when I’ll take it down–to be honest, this is the first I thought about it. It’s a small tree, and it’s not blocking anything, so I just don’t even think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/36 "2016-01-13T21:07:57Z")
If it were up to me, we wouldn’t have one at all. But since we are a democracy in our house, we do what SWMBO wants. 😃 We put the damn thing up before the 25th and she won’t let me take it down until after January 6 because of some kind of religious bugaloo. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/37 "2016-01-13T21:44:08Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > 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. My father has always argued that this is the One Correct Way - the tree should be up until 12th night, and then taken down as soon as time permits. (He also says most people put their Christmas trees up much too early, and generally waits until the week of Christmas to do so). I’ve never had occasion to question this - it seems reasonable, I grew up with it, and no one else in the family has a strong opinion, and so thus it has ever been. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/38 "2016-01-13T22:16:38Z")
My wife’s German mother says German tradition is not to take it down until 12 days after Christmas. So, we don’t take ours down until then. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/39 "2016-01-13T22:46:51Z")
I leave mine up all year to get the free electricity and light from the tree. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959/40 "2016-01-14T02:08:44Z")
Last time I set up the little artificial tree I own was easily over a decade ago. It’s been down a Looooooonnnnnggggg time. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-taken-down-your-christmas-tree-yet/742959.md?page=3)