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| The denuded tree. |
“This year, can we
take the Christmas tree down before it gets weird?” asked my husband.
I never realized I was odd about Christmas trees.
Growing up, I always asked if it could stay up at least
until my birthday, which is January 2nd.
When I asked my neighbor, she said they always take
theirs down on January 6th, which is Epiphany, the 12th
day of Christmas, when the Three Wise Men visited the Christ child. (Shouldn’t you
take your tree down on January 7th, the day after the last day of Christmas?)
Some people think it’s bad luck to leave your Christmas
tree up past New Year’s.
Others take theirs down the day after Christmas. Wow.
Harsh.
I just took mine down today, which is about usual for me,
and I’ve always thought I was being reasonable if I got it down less than two
weeks into the New Year.
Apparently, I am an outlier, though. According to an online
poll done by The Today Show on NBC,
76% of the responders had theirs down by January 6th and another 15%
took theirs down on December 26th.
Come to think of it, I guess I should have been tipped
off by the fact that, every year, I miss the garbage men’s scheduled pick-up of
Christmas trees.
Why do I wait?
Well, one, I am not generally an enthusiastic chore-doer.
And, two, there is perhaps nothing as forlorn as the
sight of a discarded Christmas tree.
Unless, of course, it is a desiccated Christmas tree
still in my living room in February.
We leave ours up until at least Epiphany and more likely way beyond then, but, funnily enough, we don't turn the lights on very much after Epiphany. The 26th is WAY too early, but the people who do that were probably putting their tree up before Thanksgiving, don't you think? -jbs
ReplyDeleteWe didn't turn the lights on much post-Christmas either. But by then, our tree was like a pile of kindling. (I put it up Thanksgiving weekend.) By the time I took it down yesterday, I needed to werar work gloves and a heavy long-sleeve sweatshirt. It was like a giant pin cushion with the all the needles sharp-side-out. :o)
DeleteThat tree looks so sad, like its standing in the corner because it did something bad.
ReplyDelete