I have been looking for this answer in other posts and threads, and have not been able to find an answer. Is there a correct day to stop lighting our Advert wreath? G1j
I’m pretty sure the day before Christmas Eve, because Christmas Eve is the beginning of Christmas and the End of Advent.
Maybe this is incorrect but I put a big white candle in the center and lit them all this Christmas Eve. Please check before doing this because I wouldn’t want to misdirect you in Catholic practices and tradtions.
I have always been told the White Candle in the middle (signalling Jesus, the light of the world, becoming man) is lit untill the Epiphany, the last day of Christmastide and we enter ordinary time. However I am sure someone better clued then me will soon answer your question 
may God Bless you through Christmastide and throughout your life
The correct time to stop lighting the Advent candles is Sunset, Dec. 24th.
If Dec. 24 were a Sunday, it would be the last Sunday of Advent… However all masses after sunset would be Christmas vigil masses until Midnight.
So, the correct time and date is Sunset, Dec. 24th.
Also that is the time to commence lighting all Christmas Candles, which would also be the white candle in the center of the Advent wreath… Some traditions call for the replacement of the 3 purple candles and the 1 pink candle with white candles.
Is there actually a hard-and-fast rule on this?? I’d love to see it.
Advent wreaths are, as far as I know, devotional rather than liturgical (although they have crept into our liturgies, sort of…).
If they can be lit into the vigil Masses, then I would think that lighting them to the end of the octave of Christmas could also be done.
Advent ends at the time of the first Christmas Eve Mass, so you could still light it on the morning of December 24th, and probably up to 4:00 pm or so. After that, you would light the white candle in the middle, and switch the coloured candles for white candles during the Christmas season, which ends on January 6th.
Because this is a home devotion, the rules are not hard and fast - do what makes sense for you at your house. But the Advent candles should not continue to be lit after the first family members have been to Mass for Christmas Eve, so, for example, if your kids go to the 7:00 pm Mass, then you would stop lighting them at the point when the kids leave for that Mass. But if you all go for Midnight Mass, then you could continue to light them until you leave for Midnight Mass.
It sounds as if we have a conundrum. The wreath was still up and lit with colored candles and central white candle on Dec 26th at Mass. That was the feast of the Holy Family. It was at the right of the Tabernacle with the Christmas tree to the left of the Tabernacle with the creche set up in front of the alter. G1j
Perhaps the Sacristan is away on holidays and nobody thought of changing it. :shrug:
I did some calling to the Diocese of Buffalo. The correct answer is…
THE DAY AFTER THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. Thanks for trying G1j
The Baptism of Jesus is the end of the Christmas Season, so that makes some sort of sense.
However it IS an Advent Wreath, and Advent is long over by then.
This is what happens when we mix liturgy and devotions…and modified devotions (and I’m referring to the middle candle) at that!
It was explained that the Advent wreath is used to symbolize the pathway to the Christmas season. When we arrive at our destination, Christmas day, the pathway does not disappear, but remains illuminated until the end of the Christmas season, which is the Baptism of our Lord, Jesus. G1j
have not had one for years but it used to be the practice to place the Christ Candle (a larger white one, sometimes with a gold trim or bow) in the center of the wreath on Dec. 17 or 3rd Sunday of Advent, and light it Christmas eve with all the other candles, and then take out the colored candles and replace with white, and light them all each night of the Christmas season. Or I suppose you could take out the colored candles and leave the wreath and light just the Christ candle up through Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord (or in the old days, Candlemas).