Are your Christmas lights still up?

[asscherisme]

ALL our neighbors on our coldesac have them up still as well as most of our neighborhood. This is our second winter in this house. Where I use to live, everyone took them down January 1st or 2nd or at least did not turn them on anymore.

So my husband and I are taking bets on when they will come down.

Are yours still up and if so, when do you usually take them down?

 

[FireGoddess]

All my decor is down....except for the tree!!!! Our tree recycling day is this Thursday, so I get to enjoy it for 3 more days till I have to put it out Wednesday night.

I did take down all the ornaments, tinsel, etc.....it''s just got the lights on it.

 

[diamondfan]

I see a ton still. If you do not wish to take them down since I am sure it is a hassle each year, I think in that case, just keep them un lit. Think of the electric bills you will be avoiding, and the labor of putting them up and taking them down is avoided...

 

[Cehrabehra]

hahaha - yeah the tree is still up too Though two things on my (coughcough) behalf: 1) I haven''t actually turne the lights on the tree ON for a few days lol and 2) the auto timer on the lights got messed up by one of the kids and it only stays on for 2 hours around dusk and I haven''t put it back to regular (then again or unplugged it hahaha)

I love the lights!! I need an excuse to have them on all the time I usually do it the weekend after the 1st but I didn''t.... I did promise to take them down tomorrow from the inside though - dh will probably do it this sunday outside.

 

[Kaleigh]

We live on a cul de sac too, everyone took them down this past week. I still have red bows on our fence, but it''s raining cats and dogs here so will wait for it to dry up a bit or else I''ll be a muddy mess!!!!

 

[Cind11]

We took all our lights on our shrubs and trees down since it has been so mild. I did leave my Christmas wreath on the front door and kept the spotlight on it. I have a hard time going from all those lights to complete darkness. In our neighborhood, there are only a few homes that still have lights. Most have either taken them down or aren''t turning them on.

 

[Mara]

hehe we just took our stuff down today. but there are like 3 other houses on our row that have their trees still up and lights. typically we take our stuff down on jan 1st or 2nd depending on the time off we have...but jan 1st we were so tired recuperating from new years eve, hahaa...we decided to just leave it til this wkd because we went back to work on the 2nd.

i have seen houses that NEVER take down their xmas lights, now that''s funny!!

 

[allycat0303]

We always leave the lights up (although they aren''t on) until Chinese New Year. Then we light them for that night or day. Although in Canada it''s freezing so EVERYONE leaves their lights on until late!

 

[Mannequin]

I took down all my Christmas stuff inside yesterday. Granted, it''s a 2 bedroom apt. and I really didn''t have much displayed. I removed the bows and garlands from my balcony last weekend. Good thing too, because with the way it''s been cold and rainy, that stuff was ready to fall apart.

 

[anchor31]

We took everything down last Friday. My siblings and I were going back to school and our parents didn''t want to do it by themselves!

 

[Lorelei]

We normally wait until 12th night after Xmas traditionally, we rarely will dismantle any earlier.

 

[Dee*Jay]

The only decoration we put up is a tree, and yes, it is still sitting there right the middle of my living room... I took the ornaments off several days ago but the happy hubby has to dismantle the pieces because I''m not all enough to reach the top one. Hopefully tonight will be the end of it.

 

[fire&ice]

Ha! I am highly allergic to Pine. We have a fake tree. We love it exactly where it is - so we keep it up until the middle of February. It''s been our tradition (which started from lack of time/laziness) for decades!

 

[Eva17]

Oh man, am I the only one who took it down before the New Year? December 26th to be exact!

Left the outside lights up till Jan 1st though....

 

[KimberlyH]

Everything inside the house has been taken down (except one Santa Claus in the TV stand that I missed). Our lights are still up but haven''t been turned back on since we left for my parents on the 23rd. I''m a fan of getting it all down January 1st, but I can''t fault DH because his mom is in the hospital which has kept him quite busy.

We live in a rural area, most of our neighbors didn''t decorate, but those who did are all still turning on their lights at night. Our neighbor came over to talk to us about our shared property line and stated he didn''t even know our house was here until he saw our Christmas lights, he moved in over 2 months ago (and we''re not THAT far away). Pretty funny.

Our city has an ordinence that all Christmas decorations must be taken down by January 31. My sister left her lights up on the balcony of her last apartment all year, she turned them on all the time. They moved and I think they skipped decorating this year because of the baby (pulling down the tree or on lights isn''t such a good thing for a 1 year old!).

 

[sumbride]

I''ve always been a "by January 6th" girl but I just can''t bear to take down our wreath because it''s just so PRETTY. We got a real wreath this year with a big red bow and a bell and it adds so much to our black front door. But it''s starting to shed so I guess I''ll take it down this week. The lights in the window are still up but haven''t been on since we left town for Christmas. I took all the decorations off the tree and packed them up but haven''t dismantled our fake tree yet. And I need to de-garland the banister. It was so pretty this weekend I didn''t want to be inside to do it all!

My neighbors still have everything up, and will until mid-January, when they will start decorating for Valentine''s day. Then St. Patrick''s and so on... The rowhouses in my neighborhood have huge front windows but no yards, so people decorate their windows like they would a classroom. Paper cutouts and everything. For EVERY holiday. I can''t quite get used to it.

 

[butterfly 17]

We took our lights down yesterday, but had them off since the 4th. I noticed that everyone on my block except for one house turned them off around the 2nd or 3rd.

 

[KristyDarling]

No lights on the house, but we took the tree down (and the lights on it) right after New Year's because it had been looking really dry and wilted since, oh, about December 10.

We were sick of pine needles all over the place. However, our front-door wreath is still up, as are all the stockings and random tabletop decorations scattered throughout the house. One of these days we'll get around to tearing-down, but for now I'm enjoying the festiveness!

I think I'll have to buy some Valentine's Day decor to help with withdrawal!

 

[Ann]

By Dec. 26th I''m sick of Christmas decor! But considering how much of it I have, it does take considerable time and effort to get it all put away.

I had the outside done on the 1st. That invloved 14 wreaths, and lots of thick heavy, lighted garland on the balconies. Pain in the butt to put up. So all the red bows from the garlands go in a big plastic storage tub and the garland gets twirled into 6 giant garbage bags. The wreath get put on clothes hangers and hung by nails in the attic.

Then the inside: I got it all down by the 3rd. It is so time consuming, days. My tree takes an entire day (sometimes 2) and then I have to have help dismantling the tree, it was in 4 sections and very heavy. That goes into special zippered bags that the tree manuf. provided. I wish someone would make ornament storage for different shape ornaments. The best storage box I''ve seen is Container Store. But it''s for all round balls. My tree is a mix of European blown glass ornaments like Radko''s, Polanaise, Old World, etc.. Some of them are 10" tall! I have lots and lots of storage tubs full of these. Some are in their original boxes, but most are not. Each one has to wrapped too! I have hundreds and love them all.

I hate having to put away all the Christmas china and glasses and mugs. Huge hassle. I have plenty of space, but just organizing it is time consuming.

Next year, 1 tree, 1 wreath on the front door, kitchen mantle decor and living room mantle decor. That''s all.
Now you guys will have to help me next year remember this!!

 

[flopkins]

we finally took down our stuff this past weekend. kinda sad to see it all go away!! I need to put up my Valentine''s stuff to cheer me up.

 

[codex57]

They''re still up in my neighborhood. We have our Christmas tree still up, but that''s cuz we''re trying to buy a tripod so we can take a picture of ourselves in front of it.

 

[divergrrl]

Oh man, the Griswolds live on our corner, and while their light display is generally very festive during the season, I get sick of it (lit and all) by Valentines day.

But like I can talk. I just took my wreath down from my front door.

My xmas tree is still up....

but at least my neighbors can''t see it (and neither can I, its in the dining room...LOL)

DG

 

[justjulia]

I took it all down the day after Christmas and immediately put up Valentine''s things.

Bring on V-Day!

 

[lumpkin]

No, but unfortunately, our naked Christmas tree still is. I just can''t bear to take it down. But it''s going this week.