When do you put up/out your Christams decorations?

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We usually start putting things out the day after Thanksgiving although I have occasionally started right after the T’giving guests head for home. 🙂

I refuse to put anything away until Jan. 6 and it usually takes a while to get it all put away. We stop turning on the outdoor lights after Jan 1 though (it’s a deed restriction in our subdivision).

I read that the Church regognizes the Christmas season as extending until Michaelsmass (or is it Candlemass??) so I might try to keep them up longer if I can get away with it. 😃
 
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davidc2:
I wait until the “O Antiphons” start - which is 17 Dec. to put things up and I take them down at the end of Christmas season - 10 Jan for the coming season.
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Ditto that. Although the outside lights don’t usually come down until April! 😃
 
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SeekerJen:
Usually I’ll start getting stuff out around the 1st Sunday of Advent: the tree will usually go up then, even if it doesn’t get decorated for a couple of weeks, then the door wreath and the Nativity scene. The Advent wreath is always the first thing, though. All of it stays out until Jan. 6th. We’re Catholics, we get to celebrate Christmas for that long, might as well enjoy it!

We might actually get lights on the outside of the house this year. Last year we were too lazy. 😃
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This is me too… I like to celebrate each part of the seasons. When I grew up my parents would celebrate each week of Advent with a small gift, that hinted the big gift we would get from them on Christmas… Everything stays up until Jan 6th. I love the opportunity of celebrating the whole season.

I am getting excited now. :bounce:
 
I’ve always loved the old tradition of the Christmas tree going up Christmas Eve night, after the little ones go to bed. While I’d love to try that, there’s a couple problems with that. One, dh is the most inadvertently clumsy person I’ve ever met (he runs into walls walking down a empty hallway!), so we’d be lucky to get the presents out that night without waking the kids, much less get a tree in and decorated. Second, I remember the fun I had as a kid decorating the tree. I don’t want to deny my kids that fun!
 
We only have our decorations up during Christmas season, about Dec. 24 through at least Jan. 6. We do put up winter type decorations after Thanksgiving.

It’s hard to concentrate on Advent when everything is already in Christmas high gear.
 
This may be obvious to everyone EXCEPT me… what is so special about January 6th? It sounds like a lot of you wait until that day to take stuff down? What gives?
 
YOU MEAN YOUR SUPPOSED TO TAKE THEM DOWN!?!?! J/K;)
i put mine up day after thanks giving and take them down on New Years Day.
 
carol marie:
This may be obvious to everyone EXCEPT me… what is so special about January 6th? It sounds like a lot of you wait until that day to take stuff down? What gives?
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January 6th is the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord- when the Wise Men reached the stable and found the Messiah. This is the last day of the official Church Christmas season. It’s also the basis for the “12 Days of Christmas” song- there are 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany.
 
When I was a kid:

12/22 buy tree
12/23 put up tree
12/24 decorate tree
01/01 it all came down

Now:

2 weeks before, tree, nativity, etc. go up.
Nag husband to put up outside lights

01/01 take it all down while husband & various other males watch football
01/01 - March, nag husband to take outside lights down
 
I’ll try again. I’m new to this.

Advent decorations go up First Sunday of Advent: advent wreath, advent calendars, etc. We get new issue of “At Home With the Word.” Christmas decorations come out slowly as Advent works its way toward Christmas.

When my children were young, we had customs more fitting for young families. I thought they worked well.

On Christmas Eve, their father took them out to get a great deal on a Christmas tree. This gave me time to wrap everyone’s “Santa” gift for under the tree; also for cleaning and cooking. The tree went up when they got home and then tired children went to bed to wait for Santa after putting out the milk and cookies for Santa, and treats for the reindeer.

Once the Santa element was gotten by in the morning, all the rest of the day was about the baby Jesus. We encouraged the children to have gifts they made for the baby - after all, whose birthday was this??? These changed over the years from little hand made things to things we would donate to a children’s shelter or a Woman’s Advocacy group.

When the children were small, I was a cantor and our choir stood to the left of the sanctuary space, directly in front of the first pew where my family sat. Our children were very well behaved as Mama was looking right at them !! Our youngest was known (for at least the 2nd through about 6th pews who could see him) for knowing all the words and gestures his Mama used. He stood on the kneeler and faced the congregation !! Their father was a lector.

Then our children received one gift each for each day after Christmas until Epiphany. Each day had a theme and one still survives. The children received thank you notes and cards on December 26th with a pen tied in the bow. I tried to cut that out a couple years back as the children are now 36-25, but they protested mightily !!

One day they would get lotto tickets, one day they would get movie tickets, one day they would get new toothbrushes. Some days were big gifts, most were little things. Now that they are grown, one day they get new batteries for their smoke detectors; one day they get whatever their favorite fragrance is.

Now, usually each year has kind of a theme, like “coffee” or “movies” or whatever is going on. My children say they have the best stocked gadget drawers around !!

Side benefits of observing the 12 days of Christmas is that you get to pretty much bypass the Christmas rush and get to shop the Christmas sales. You also get to find out what the popular gift is for the kids !!

Of course, decorations do not come down until January 6. They begin to turn into Valentine’s Day - you get to keep some of the red stuff !! . . . depending, of course.
 
First Sunday of Advent- get out the nativity (w/ no baby Jesus in it), put Advent wreath on the front door (wreath w/ 3 purple and 1 pink bow). Second Sunday of Advent- buy tree. Third Sunday- put tree up in living room, but do not decorate! Decorate tree the 4th Sunday of Advent. This year we will be in Rome for Christmas, so we don’t plan to decorate much. —KCT
 
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SeekerJen:
January 6th is the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord- when the Wise Men reached the stable and found the Messiah. This is the last day of the official Church Christmas season. It’s also the basis for the “12 Days of Christmas” song- there are 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany.
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But I thought Jesus was about two years old when the wise men reached him? (Or is that yet ANOTHER example of something I was told as a Protestant and now, come to find out isn’t true???)
 
We start decorating the day after Thanksgiving and take things
down on or right after the Epiphany. We put the baby in the
manger under the tree on Christmas Eve night. I too love Christmas and love to have everything decorated as long as possible. 🙂
 
Thanks so far everyone:)

I am learning new things from the people on this forum all the time.

Keep 'em coming!

By the way, here in Canada, Thanksgiving is in October… so after Halloween I feel entirely comfortable putting up the Christmas decorations as it doesn’t interfere with any other holiday decorations.

Also, I am Ukrainian, so we leave our decorations up/ lights on until at least Ukrainian New Year.

Finella
 
All year - I have a nativity set collection that i keep out all year round.
 
You are right that the Baby Jesus was actually more like the Toddler Jesus when the Wise Men reached him. But the celebration of Epiphany happens 12 days after Christmas anyway…just like we celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord (at age 30 or so) and his Death & Resurrection (at age 33) only a few weeks and months later.

Think of it this way…you are celebrating the Epiphany of two Christmases ago. Gosh, it would be an awful long time in between Easter Vigils if we had to re-enact the entire life of Christ in 33-year cycles!

Our family is moving towards advent-only decorations after Thanksgiving and up to about the fourth week of advent. Also, because one of our daughters’ birthdays is Dec 8 and we try not to lump her birthday into Christmas celebrations.

We buy our tree as late as possible (fewer choices, but cheaper prices) and decorate on Christmas Eve in the daytime.

Lights and wreaths and things for the outside of the house probably go up in the fourth week too.

Then we keep everything up until Epiphany and try to have a Three Kings celebration of some kind.

I like the idea of a present each day of Christmas. I’m worried I’d be stumped for ideas though.
 
Lights and lit manager scene usually go out right before of after Thanksgiving. Tree appx 2 weeks before Christmas. It used to be the day after Thanksgiving but some how it’s been slowly moved closer to Christmas. Decorations come down sometimes as late as Feb. 😃
 
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