Now you know how much I love decorating for Christmas, but this morning I was inspired to begin the removal of decorations to put my house back to rights. I think I’ve vacuumed up at least 1K pine needles just from the mantle as the sprigs that I had used have all fallen to pieces. And let’s not mention the needles from the tree as well! I am taking a well-deserved break before finishing the tree.
But as I finished removing the Christmas decorations from the mantle, I couldn’t let go. I mean, it’s silly to start decorating for Valentine’s Day (isn’t it?), but to leave it pretty bare didn’t feel good either. So I did the next best thing. I decorated for winter and used a few of the winterish decorations and kept a few of the twinkly lights for a sparkly feel because I like that! A few red cardinals for good measure and I’m ready for the winter season without giving up that child-like delight I have of white sparkling lights!
I have to say it made taking down Christmas a little easier to handle when I kept a few treasures out. Lucky for me, they still go with the winter theme until Valentine’s Day! Win Win for me!
I was going to try to keep it all up until Little Christmas (January 6th), but it’s looking pretty dry and I haven’t had the lights on in a few days because of it. I wouldn’t want a fire hazard, so down it comes.
When do you take down your Christmas/holiday decorations? What do you do with the empty spaces afterwards? Do you put it all back to rights without decorating for the next holiday?
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Authentically 50 ~ Embracing Life's Changes 
I plan to take mine down this weekend. If I had a real tree, I would have taken down long ago. I hate when they start looking dry and dropping needles everywhere… plus it’s a fire hazard!
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I know that’s why I haven’t turned the lights on in a few days because the tree is dry. We always get a real tree, but the fake ones are so much easier and they don’t have the needles flying everywhere! I hope it goes well taking down your tree and decorations!
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New years day is when everything comes down for me and everything comes down. I do have a table in my entry that I decorate seasonally, but that is about it. It always feels a bit sad when the lights are gone. This year was especially hard because I had to put away my nutcrackers. I get a bit of the seasonal fun with all of my electronic devices, backgrounds, screensavers, headers… those kinds of things.
Part of what keeps things from feeling too drab for me is getting to rearrange my living room. I like change in my house and moving furniture always gives me that. Painting as well, but if I were to repaint my walls every year, I think Hubby may try to have me committed. ;D
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LOL! I have a friend who changes her draperies with the seasons as well as her bedding comforters. I am more lazy I guess and a creature of habit. But I like to decorate with little things and sparkly white lights. Once the tree is out of here, I think I’m going to leave that space blank and not put the table back where it was originally. That will be a big move for me to refrain from putting it all back to where it was. I guess we’ll see how long I can stand it! LOL
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Mine comes down a few days before New Years, especially if, like this year, we host the party! My friend Michelle always help me decorate for the party.
Aww, you should have shared a pic of your newly decorated mantel with us!
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Great idea Kim! I will see if I can get a good one and make a post about it! 🙂
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What a great idea, Janie! I might try to do the same and leave a few winterish items up.
I won’t be taking ours down until after Orthodox Christmas which is the 7th. Sometimes I leave them up until the 14th which is New Year, but it just deoends. Our tree is artificial though. 💖🎄😁 I just put things back where they were, pictures and stuff.
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Mischenko, I used to put it all back to rights when I was married, but no more! Now I’m doing what makes me feel good which is the winterish decorations staying for awhile longer. If we had an artificial tree, I’d probably leave it up longer, but our live one is dry now and a hazard. 🙂
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I haven’t done Christmas decorations for two years in a row and I’ll probably be in Australia in 2018. Maybe I’ll think about doing it for 2019 😆
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Sounds good Manuela! I think you have to do what works for you and your life! I look forward to hearing how the holidays go for you in the future!
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I put a few bits up one day then a few days later I take them down lol, I can’t stand the clutter! Although I do have two strings of white fairy lights, one warm and one cool white in two corners of my room. My angel and golden balls (spheres) stay out all year. I love clean lines and my paintings give me some colour.
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Your paintings are beautiful Elaine so I’m glad that you have the fairy lights surrounding them! I’m a big fan of twinkling lights and keep them up all year long myself because they make me happy! Good for you!
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Usually I have them up well into January but this year my urge to get back to ‘normal’ (yeah right!) and get things cleaned up was greater than the need to keep the trees up…BUT! As a compromise I left some lights on my windows cause i cant quite give up that comforting glow at night yet!
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I am drawn to the twinkling white lights so I kept mine up too on the mantle. There’s something magical about them, isn’t there?
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Absolutely! So there they’ll stay 😊
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Big grin! Twinkling lights do that to me! 🙂
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