I recently saw a friend’s Facebook post asking when one
should undecorate the home after Christmas.
Well, I’ve been thinking and here are my random and I hope amusing
thoughts on when one should take down their Christmas decorations.
Take down your Christmas decorations on Dec 26th
IF-
Like the Holiday Lite FM you’ve been listening to Jingle
Bells since Nov 1st and your expensive fresh cut Christmas tree has
gone from being the envy of a Macy’s department store window to a prop in a
live production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. The stores started putting up their Cupid
statues and Valentine hearts on December 24th so why shouldn’t you?
Take down your Christmas decorations on January 1st
or 2nd IF-
All of the wonderful/painful family/friends get togethers
for the holidays you have planned are now done.
After all, when the vast majority of people wish each other “Happy
Holidays” during the season of Season’s Greetings they all agree the New Year
marks the official end of the Holiday season.
Why? New Year’s Day is the one
thing everyone does celebrate when not warring over whether or not they should
or should not wish someone a Merry Christmas.
Take your Christmas decorations on or after Official
Epiphany (Between Jan 2nd- Jan 8th) IF-
You accept Official Epiphany. Let me take a moment to explain
what “Official Epiphany” is. The US conference
of Catholic Bishops has taken a page out of the US government and has decided
to move such critical events in the life of Jesus Christ (such as when the wise
men visited him on the 12th day after Christmas aka Jan 6th)
to the nearest Sunday after the 1st of the year. Why? Because it was hard enough for Bob
Cratchit to ask Ebeneezer Scrooge for Christmas and New Year off let alone
Epiphany, Ascension Thursday, Feast of the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception
& subsequent Assumption at the end of her life, and of course that which
spawned a multi-billion dollar industry of spooky props, costumes, mini candy
bars, and a movie franchise-All Saints’ day. Why isn’t Epiphany on Jan 1st? Well January 1st is already a
significant holy day honoring Mary Mother of God which is better than holding a
celebration honoring the day Jesus was circumcised.
Take your Christmas decorations down on or after January 7th
IF-
On the 13th day of Christmas my true love gave to me-a used
set of luggage and a bus ticket to Cairo E Y G. Why?
Because on the 13th day of Christmas Mary & Joseph were
already packing up Jesus’ swaddling clothes & getting the heck out of
Bethlehem thanks to the death threat from king Herod the supposed great. So, if Mary, Joseph & Jesus are leaving
the manger behind why shouldn’t you?
Take your Christmas decorations down on or after The Baptism
of the Lord (usually 2nd Sunday in January unless superseded by
Epiphany). IF
You believe in the concept of Ordinary Time. Jesus
has gone from that tiny manger lying infant to a fully grown adult rebelling
against the religious authorities. Besides,
theoretically every US Roman Catholic church should have done on the previous
Epiphany is let everyone know when/urge Catholics to prepare for Easter. This traditional Easter announcement was
made because back in the day no one wanted to boggle their brains trying to
figure out when the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon of
the vernal equinox was because that’s how St. Peter remembered it. Nowadays most Roman Catholic priests know
their parishioners can just Google when Easter 20__ will be & tell their
congregants to plan their lives to enjoy as much junk food & merriment
before the start of Lent.
You are lazy but not super lazy. You’re probably exhausted after all of the holiday
frivolities and need a break to get over your Christmas break. So, you have a nice 3 day weekend to take
down all of your Christmas stuff.
Besides, in honor of Dr. King you should take and donate the unwanted
Christmas gifts of socks, underwear, tacky ugly Christmas sweaters and ties,
tempting but not part of your new year’s diet Christmas sweets, and all unused
cans of Who Hash to charity or volunteer to help some elderly person take down
their decorations. 😊
You are very lazy, and you wish to fall back on the ancient
end of the Christmas season-Candlemas. You can justify waiting until February 2nd
because once upon a time the Christmas season lasted for 40 days. The end of
those 40 days was celebrated with the day baby Jesus was presented to the
Jewish temple because of some ancient Jewish law whose theological significance
is beyond my 16 year experience with Catholic education. Besides, the Catholic Church likes the number
40 and they probably wanted to counterbalance the 40 days of fast & abstinence
of Lent with 40 days of gluttony and indulgence prior to Lent.
You are hosting some type of Superbowl party. Most people attending the Superbowl party
might be OK with a tree with lights and ornaments on it as long as those lights/colors are the
colors/logos of the teams who were fortunate to survive all the way to the big
game. However, big red stockings on a
fireplace mantle with holly along the shelves will inevitably clash with paper
footballs and Budweiser football stadiums.
You are really really lazy and want to get more use of the
Christmas decorations. The purple, gold,
& green of Christmas can work with Mardi Gras as well. Not to mention the whole baby Jesus cake
concept. But now that the official
season of Lent has begun you must be preparing to horde those chocolate Easter
bunnies and jellybeans while awaiting for the Lenten fast to end while you look at
austere decor until either St. Patrick’s day or Easter.
Take your Christmas decorations down on March 25th IF?
Your house can be seen from the International Space Station
during the Christmas season. Ironically, Christmas is now 9 months away thanks
to the Virgin Mary’s yes. However, you
are still waiting for that warm spring weather to make sure you don’t fall off
the roof while trying to remove the fake reindeer. Hopefully mother nature will not throw you a
curve ball with a last-minute early spring blizzard.
Take your Christmas decorations down NEVER IF?
You are either very obsessed with Christmas or extremely lazy. There are some places around the country that are famous for being Christmas 365 days a year not just once. Why should your place be any different? Not to mention retailers are eager to give us black Friday in spring and Christmas in July so why not keep the Christmas feeling alive all through the year. Besides does Santa’s Village still exist?
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