:: actually bothers to read all thread options ::
:eek: :mad:
The usual threats, Dorkness. Expect numberless hordes of spiders in your Rice Krispies all weekend.
On the 23rd Day of Christmas, my true love asked me, "When are you taking down that goddamned tree?"
Spiders are fine; I can sort them out. When I worked at the zoo, though, the hissing cockroach had babies, and those suckers looked *exactly *like a bunch of Rice Krispies. I’d never be able to find them all. Their little exoskeletons would probably snap-crackle-pop, too.
Me too. Some decorations are down, some are even boxed up. The tree is in the back yard waiting for my wife’s final inspection for missing ornaments. Short days are making that difficult. The outdoor lights will come down when the ground thaws and I have some free time and am motivated … maybe June.
:: removes spiders eggs from teleporter & replaces them with cockroach eggs ::
It’s not clear to me why you told me that.
They come down the day after the Epiphany which is still part of ‘Christmas’. In Ireland we call it ‘Little Christmas’ or ‘Nollaig na mBan’ which means ‘Women’s Christmas’. Traditionally that’s when the woman of the house put her feet up for a change and was waited on by everyone else. Nowadays people are more confused and some people have started taking their decorations down on that day but it’s still Christmas dammit and I’m a pedant! 
Me too. The tree came down a few days after Christmas because we got the carpet replaced, but it was finally warm enough here in Georgia today to get the lights down.
Well that goes without saying, and mine are just on the bushes. I think not turning them on any more counts here. IMHO of course.
The only decorations still up are a table top tree in my room that I haven’t gotten around to putting away yet. Everything else is packed away until next time.
Tree down Jan 1, house lights down Jan 6.
Ah. In retrospect, I see that was a mistake.
Ours are still up, but that’s not normal for us. Usually I take them down on the first, but we’re getting ready to move back to the US (from Japan) in a couple of weeks, and I’m just going to pack it all with the rest of the crap instead of taking them down and redecorating that spot. The whole house is a bit chaotic right now, really. And I’m lazy, so there’s that.
I have a tiny 2-foot fiber-optic tree that’s still sitting on the windowsill. Putting it away will entail going into the back of the closet and moving a bunch of boxes and crap out of the way to get its box out so I can put it back in there; which is a more complicated endeavor than I’ve felt like dealing with, yet. I haven’t turned the lights on since Jan. 1, though.
I also have a tin painted snowflake door decoration on my front door. I’ll leave that up until the snow is well on its way to melting (really melting, not just this bizarre 40 degree week we’re having which is certain to be followed by another cold snap or blizzard).
Of course now that you’ve got me thinking about it again, I might just turn the tree lights on tonight, just cuz I can. 
Took it down this past Sunday, because it was the first weekend after Epiphany, and the end of Christmas season.
I have friends who leave their Christmas lights up all year, they just don’t turn them on except around Christmas.
I forgot- I also have friends who left a paper skeleton up long after Hallowe’een, eventually shrugged and stuck a Santa hat on it, and then a red paper heart, and then an Easter egg. It’s their multi-season cheerful skeleton decoration.
That’s my situation. But it’s going to be fairly warm tomorrow, so those lights are coming down!
Lights removed/stored tonight-check.
Bulbs and garland removed/stored tonight-check.
Throwing tree into neighbor’s backyard-pending.
Almost there!
hh
Our man took down the outside lighjts today. I wish we could get everybody to leave theirs up and on until late March when sunset happens *after *i get home.
Tree is still up and* might* come down this weekend. If not, it will be next wkend
Still haven’t sent or opened any xmas cards. Beeen a few years now on that front.
I want them put up earlier and taken down earlier…my wife prefers up later and down later. You can tell we’ve been married a long time!
According to some traditions, you had until February 2, Candlemas (=Feast of the Presentation, =Groundhog Day in the US) to get everything down. Or to put it another way, you can leave them up all January, and then have your spouse start screaming at you when Feb. 1 rolls around.
Just put the last boxes back in the attic today. The outdoor lights came down last weekend (I always leave them up and turned on through Epiphany). The tree came down last Tuesday (1/12) because Wednesday (1/13) was the last day the city would haul away the tree for mulch.
Today I finished taking down the stockings and refrigerator magnets. Now it’s all back in the attic until the first weekend in December.
I voted #2. I usually only decorate when I have family coming for Christmas, and this year I was alone. The years I do decorate, I’m a lazy slug and they often stay up until February.
As to the outside lights, we have this thing in Anchorage with lights that a mayor started several years (decades?) ago called “City of Lights and Flowers”. I think he ripped off the name from Paris, but the idea was a good one, it’s very dark for most of the day in the winter and having all of the little white lights up does make things a bit more cheerful and less depressing. (the “flowers” part of it occurs during the summer months, there are flower baskets all over downtown to look pretty for the tourists).
A lot of people, especially businesses, have white lights that are up all winter long, other people put up their Xmas lights a bit early and then leave them up either until Fur Rondy or until late spring. And some people put up lights of other colors in place of white lights (blue is a fave, I have pink ones but haven’t put them up for a few winters) and then leave them up all winter.