Every year, I see at least a couple of houses in our neighborhood with their trees out at the curb, while I can stilll smell leftover ham in my kitchen! Why would someone take down their decorations while the kids haven't even finished assembling their Legos yet?, I wonder. So, when is the right time to take down your Crhistmas decorations?
Catholicism expert Scott P. Richert says:
"Traditionally, Catholics did not take down their Christmas trees and other Christmas decorations until January 7, the day after Epiphany. The Twelve Days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day; the period before that is Advent, the time of preparation for Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas end on Epiphany, the day that the Three Wise Men came to pay homage to the Child Jesus."
In Brazil, where I grew up, December 25th is in hot summer and traditionally, decorations are taken down on or after January 6th. However, everywhere around the globe, people from many religions "celebrate" Christmas, or at least decorate their homes. I have even heard about Jewish people who love the spirit and lights of the giving season so much, that they not only decorate, but even go crazy with their decorations!
This year, we had a neighbor who had his Christmas lights professionally installed by early October, when I had just put up my pumpkin, skeletons and spiders. Go figure! That sounds a little too early, doesn't it? Since our family traditionally goes RVing for the Thanksgiving week, we place our decorations either the week before or after most people do theirs.
When I moved to the US seventeen Christmas ago, my dear husband had a cute 18 inches Christmas tree with 2 dozen one inch red ornament globes. I was actually impressed a young guy sharing an apartment with his buddy, had a Christmas tree at all! The following year I added lots of wooden miniature figures my father gave to me! We still have that little tree for the kids to enjoy in the media room. But since before the arrival of our offspring, our Xmas decor collection has grown quite a bit.
However, this year, giving in to our children, we got rid of our 9 ft pre-lighted tree and for the first time, we had a real Christmas tree! When I grew up, we always had real pine trees, but in real dirt, with real roots! What a difference! Just now we understood one reason some people take down their Christmas trees as soon as Rudholf is gone! By Santa's day our tree's prime time was already behind us. That luxurious appearance and the sweet smell of the season had dissipated as quickly as the Elf on the shelf! By New Years we were vacuuming around the tree everyday, in an attempt to disguise its health issues.
Complying with the Christmas tree recycling pick up for our neighborhood, in respect of our big home - called Earth, my tree laid down last night, January 4th and was taken by a truck as I wrote this paragraph. Tree recycling, I then realize, is one more reason many folks may not wait until Epiphany to remove their decorations.
Check out my post on tips to help you store your Christmas ornaments wisely!
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