# Its Jan. 17,,And The Christmas Lights Are All Gone! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 17, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250 "2005-01-17T22:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/1 "2005-01-17T22:03:06Z")
January is such a bleak month! And, now the Christmas lights are almost all gone. The trees are out on the pavement, the wreaths are packed away. It is so sad…I really like having those colored lights to offset the grim darkness of midwinter. I’m keeping MINE up and lit , dammit! I keep mine on till Feb 1st. How long do you keep your Christmas lights up? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/2 "2005-01-18T00:34:02Z")
Traditionally, January 6th, the Twelfth Day of Christmas, when the Three Wise Men supposedly arrived. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/3 "2005-01-18T00:45:17Z")
I never put up lights. The most I’ll do is the electric candles in the window, and all decorations are usually down before the new year. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/4 "2005-01-18T00:46:25Z")
If I could get away with it Dec 26th 12:01 am. Since I can’t usually the end of the first week in January. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/5 "2005-01-18T05:11:32Z")
The last time we put outdoor lights up, we kept them up until August 20th, when we had to take them down to do some touchup work on the trim. We quit turning them on around mid-January, though. This is why we haven’t put lights up the past two Christmases. I drove past a house a few blocks away that still had all their lights up and lit last night. So you’re not the only one keeping the faith. ---
**Author:** ![Sharky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Sharky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sharky)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/6 "2005-01-18T08:19:04Z")
The Christmas decorations on the utility poles along Main Street are still up and lighted. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/7 "2005-01-18T15:53:44Z")
My neighbor used to have those big bulb colored lights along his gutter around his house. He left them up year round but only turned them on for special ocassions in which he’d unscrew certain bulbs depending on the holiday. Valentine’s Day = Red and White St. Patrick’s Day = Green and White 4th of July = Red, White, and Blue Halloween = Orange ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/8 "2005-01-18T16:25:25Z")
I actually bought some of those small blue lights during an after-Christmas clearance sale at Target, and hung them around my room. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough left to fully stretch around the room, and now all the stores’ Christmas decoration sections are long gone. I really love the “cooling” effect of the blue lights indoors, though. I don’t suppose anyone has a string or two that they don’t want or need anymore? At this point, I’d happily buy them! The light blue lights I’m looking for are on green plastic cords, about 14 feet long with 50 lights per cord. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/9 "2005-01-18T16:32:33Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I’m keeping MINE up and lit , dammit! I keep mine on till Feb 1st. _[Snooty Neighbor]_ 2/1/05? Fine. But one day later an we’ll banish you from the neighborhood and refer you to a realtor who specializes in ‘Trailer Park Sales’ _[/Snooty Neighbor]_ ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/10 "2005-01-18T18:35:16Z")
My tree (artificial) is still up. I have twinkling snowflake lights (a strand of 10 snowflakes about 4-5 inches with 6 twinkly lights each) in my dining room window that are still up. I did take down the 3 electric candles from the living room windows. I usually leave the tree and snowflake lights up til the end of January, beginning of February. It’s so dreary this time of year and the lights are so cheerful. Sometimes those are the only lights on in my apartment and it’s so cozy to watch tv by the light of the Christmas tree. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-jan-17-and-the-christmas-lights-are-all-gone/285250/11 "2005-01-18T19:13:47Z")
Anchorage has its ‘City of Lights’ thing going every year, wherein people and businesses are encouraged to keep white lights up until the last musher comes in on the Iditarod Trail in March. It’s surprising how much it adds to a dark winter.