Why do folks take their lights down so soon?

My mother and father always insisted that there are 12 days to Christmas beginning on Christmas Day and lasting till January 6th. This is, apparently, how long it too the Wise Men to find Jesus. Our decorations were put up on Christmas Eve (never before) and taken down at Epiphany (January 6th). On New Year's Eve we would have a 'judging' of the Christmas Cards. The six nicest (in various categories) would remain on the mantlepiece for the rest of Christmas.

Isn't that so? You should start a movement, "extend Christmas 'til after New Year's"!! I'd love to see the lights on for a while more, especially since the weather kept most folks home this year. Besides, Orthodox Christians don't celebrate their Christmas until January. They've gotta be treated to some Christmas festivity too, don't you think? And to add to this, TV networks could air holiday-related shows longer too. Noticed on the 26th how TV shows here quickly went back to regular programming that day.

We don't decorate outside, but we do inside. We had planned on keeping the tree up until after the new year, but it dried out so bad that we decided to eliminate the mess. Normally we decorate about mid December and take it down the day after. I just get tired of all the extra stuff around. But maybe some are taking down their outside stuff sooner to cut the added use of electricity. They want to celebrate the season, but it they leave their lights up too long they'll light them up and have that much higher electric bill.

I keep my tree and lights till the middle of jan...i like to look at them.. Most people are in a hurry to rush into the next holiday and then there are those that feel its over now down they go...there also might be a money problem of electric bill cost that makes them take them down with this economy..

classycat, I take my Christmas lights down as early as I can because I start getting busy with other areas in life and do not wish to be distracted by the time I need to spend when busy to take them down. Otherwise, they will stay up a long while and people question why I have not taken them down. It works both ways.

maybe they felt like they should take there christmas lights and other decorations off because it's the day after christmas, and they don't like to decorate there house a lot, but they probably have something to inspire them to do it

i don't have time to put christmas decorations this year because i just come back from my home country in the middle of this month... i agree with you that that the christmas decorations should be put up at least until new year... i will do that because what is the point of spending so much time and money decorating the house if we are going to take them out so soon??? might as well enjoy them a little bit longer... take care and have a nice day...

Maybe it's because their saving the electricity or they feel like an early take down would lessen their chores to come... I take down all my Christmas decoration after the 3 kings. Here in the Philippines we celebrate the holidays the longest. We start as early as September and ends after the 3 kings. Lots of people keep it as well during this days. I like seeing those sparkling lights especially my kids..It makes me happy.

i take mine down as soon after xmas as possible. Why? because I put them up right after thanksgiving. Time being limited, I want to get my house in order again and get back to normal. Christmas is after all, over. many actually do leave the lights up until after New Years so I'm sure there will be some that you can look at. Another factor is the economy. It is expensive to run those lights.

My mom and I were just talking about that a little while ago, she said her neighbors and her landlord have already taken all their lights and decorations down. I always keep mine up till after New Year's Day, I like looking at my tree and decorations, after all I only take them out one time a year, so I keep them up as long as I can. I guess some people just don't like keeping them out too long after Christmas....who knows...

We've always left the outside lights up until New Years day and fortunately, most of the neighborhood where we live now feel the same way so everyone's lights are still up. We normally take the Christmas tree down a few days after Christmas but this year it seems to be outwitting me. I keep telling it I'm taking it down tomorrow and then I get tied up with stuff and it's still here...blinking at me.

I still have my christmas decorations and lights up but I have noticed that a lot of neighbours have taken theirs down already. I think it is nice to leave them up until after new years eve as its still a Holiday and having the lights up is nice. Maybe some people are fed up with them or are going back to work so they do not have much time to take them down. I prefare to leave mine up though for a while.

Well, it kills the joy when people take them down so soon. But where I live, its usually up until almost February and then for those qho become seriously lazy..leave them up all year lol

I have always wondered that too. There are probably many reasons, electricity, people don't care, or people feel that it is something that they have to do to fit in, not because they want to. I always wanted Christmas lights to be posted for longer than New Year's Eve, I think they are pretty and that there is no reason to stop the holiday cheer. Thanks

I can understand that it is easier to enjoy them after the holiday rush is over, but there are a few reasons why one might want to take them down early. First, if there is time before the New Year's, but not after then that makes it a prime time to take down the decorations. This happens to work best for a lot of people's schedules, especially with a full weekend (and a week day or two) off after Christmas. The second is that running a lot of lights can be expensive. Sure one or two strands probably won't break the bank, but if you are one that enjoys going all out then it can be expensive to turn your decorations on day after day after day. Taking them down after Christmas and not leaving them up (or turning them on) after the fact can save a lot of money. This is something more and more of us are feeling these days.

I think since every year they seem to be going up earlier and earlier, people are already tired of the tree and want to clean up everything. It seems that this year right after Halloween, Christmas stuff started going up everwhere. I imagine most of the real trees have dried out. I've started taking down some stuff, and will have everything put away by the weekend.

Mine came down early this year (I usually keep them up until after the New Year) for two resons. #1- It reached 70 degrees here the Saturday after Christmas, so I decided to get them down while it was nice outside and I didn't have to freeze trying to get them down. #2- I figured it may save me a few cents on the electric bill and as we all know every penny counts right now. I put mine up on Thanksgiving night so I am usually tired of them by the time Christmas is over too!