Post Christmas clear up

second Christmas cake? I'm just relieved that one was edible

I may have to ice my second Christmas cake today.

DD1 gave me a Christmas tree made of twigs and dotted with red berries, with twinkling lights (seems to have been my main Christmas present ) on Boxing Day ( again]). I may keep it out for the rest of the winter. Seems a shame to put it away when it was late to the party!

Still definitely Christmas in our house, although the ham is long gone due to the fact that daughter placed the Boxing Day pork in one oven, and lit the other one. Was a relief to be able to fall back on warmed up turkey and boiled bacon.

I used to love them up as long as poss as a child and when i had children at home but seem to have changed in recent years as they were away on the 29th!!

Oh yes...and the food? Not much left of the £600 worth I bought on 23rd December. DH and I will live on nibbly bits until they are all gone. Most meals were feeding 14/15 so little left.

We still have 4 extras here. 5 have just left. You should see my house after 10 days of visiting young children ? It will take me until Easter to deal with all the stuff....and then it starts again.

The decorations are well down the list. First: strip 8 beds and launder bedding. Next: wash and dry all towels. And then clear a road through the boxes, paper, toys, games, bottles. Hoover up all the gunge on the floors. Return the entire house to its original layout (much building of forts and huts). Finally take down decorations by the 6th January. It takes about a week to return them to the boxes.

Well....at least I won't be bored.

Our decs went up on 20th Dec, as children we always had to wait until after my brother's birthday (18th) and the tradition has remained . They will come down on 6th Jan as I love them brightening up these dreary days . We had turkey soup for lunch , a few portions in the freezer for meals later and some delicious ham to eat up still . Still need to clear out fridge of other bits .I gave the left over cheese to DD and family as I can't control my cheese habit ! My washing machine has died at last,so will enjoy choosing a nice new one. After 15 years it owe's me nothing, never even gone wrong.

My decs went up on Dec 20th. I always move a lot of 'stuff' to a spare bedroom so that the place doesn't look too cluttered. 6 garlands with fairy lights and 5 nice wreaths. That's it. The family and close friends' cards are displayed and the rest go into a wicker trug on the hearth.

However, must admit to liking the feel of space when the decs are taken down.

Our decorations went up on the 7th, far earlier than usual, but we had family from afar visiting on the 8th. Tree still fine, but then we were away for a week over Christmas with heating on very low. Decs will stay up till the 6th - January is miserable enough anyway IMO.
Have returned from large family house party in Devon with so much leftover food, we'll be eating it for ages. Turkey carcass is sitting in fridge waiting to be stripped and made into stock/stew tomorrow.
We usually go 'on frugals' , as my mother used to put it, after Christmas, which means eating up everything in the fridge, and not buying anything that isn't strictly necessary. Which is fine by me, since the last thing I want to do for the next few days is go shopping for anything AT ALL.

Tree and cards will come down on 2 Jan. The lights that bestrew the coving around the room will remain. On horridly dark days they provide a bit of prettiness which makes me feel better.

I will make a slow beginning today as that way I can cope without exhaustion. So the cards will come down, then the decorations will go a little a day. The tree will stay until 12th night as I love the lights. It's a slow process but an easy one.

I can't wait to take our decorations down but DH will not Do it until after New Year's Day. We put them up a week before Christmas. Personally I don't want to share my living room with the overlarge Christmas tree a minute longer and have told DH that next year it will be relegated to the conservatory. I cleared the fridge of all the left overs this morning, and DH, having binned a mountain of uneaten trifle, rinsed my precious trifle bowl out under the (very) hot tap and cracked it. It was my mother's . "I didn't realise that would happen!" he said. "Well that's because you're a complete idiot!" I didn't say, but wanted to.

Agree with you Penstemon, people putting up the decorations and tree so early in Dec means they're fed up with it by Boxing Day. Much better to wait until nearer Christmas and enjoy the real spirit of the season.

I took a few more things down today so its only the tree and the few bits and bobs on the mantlepiece remaining DH has promised to get it all down on Sunday morning. I bought a turkey which is in the freezer as we were away on Christmas Day - I wonder if I can persuade him we should have that at Easter and have a nice piece of beef on Sunday.

Decorations still up but I'm edging to take them down. DD2 took her tree down on Christmas Day because there was no room to move once Santa had been. Mind you they live in a very small house and have three children so Santa brought a lot of big stuff.

Ours will stay up till 12th night, and just beyond because that's a Friday night and we are invited out, so I shall take them down and clear up on the Saturday morning. But with the littl'uns here for most of the time over Christmas, I've been cleaning the whole downstairs practically every day after dinner.

Christmas decorations went up on 24th, replacing the Advent decorations.

DH insists decorations come down on 12th night. One year we forgot to take down a garland in the hall so it had to stay up all year lol.

Last year, my husband and I decided not to put any decorations up as all our family were scattered far and wide, holidays / visiting inlaws, etc. We didn't mind as we know our 3 sons are happy and living their lives their own way with their own families.
However, a very strange thing happened; because we hadn't put any decs up, there was nothing to mark the end of the Christmas period. I found that I still had my Christmas head on in the middle of January and beyond.
Needless to say we definitely got our decs out this year so that we can mentally mark when it's over. As it happens, our sons visited this year over the Christmas period but even if they hadn't, we had decided they were going up anyway. Life is full of little surprises .

Usually 12th night is the end of Christmas here but thinking of extending to Candlemas ?this year. Just been reading about all the bank holidays that used to be celebrated before 1832 and thinking of observing all of them this year! We're retired so why not?

My decorations went up on the 27th November. According to my diary that was the first day of advent and, I cling to the belief that if it's good enough for the church it's good enough for me. I will take mine down this Friday/Saturday. I don't like to get up on new year's day and see them still there. My diet will start when the last of the sweets have been devoured and I have just made a lovely pot of stew which will do me for the next couple of days. I do wish everyone a happy and healthy new year

I feel that Christmas belongs at the end of the year, not at the beginning, so all our decorations etc are always down and put back in the loft by 30th December. I also get rid of any lefttover "Christmas food" - either in the bin, or taken to the "food table" at work, before 1st January
Then I feel clear to move into the new year

Decorations went up 1st Dec as I was going to visit my DM for a week on 5th. Every-one else round here puts theirs up early. 2nd Jan tree will come down & cards, wreaths may stay on doors until 12th night. I have an Appointment on 3rd so Christmas is over

DD usually puts her's up on 1st Dec but they come down on Boxing Day

Our decorations (much more restrained this year) go up on Christmas Eve and usually stay up until 2 Feb - Candlemas Day as in medieval times. But the tree goes out by 12th night as it is getting bald by then and quite honestly it gets in the way. Christmas cards are blue-tacked to the banisters so they do not clutter up surfaces or fall over. Sadly three of my six ancient Ikea strings of stars did not light up this year so no Ikea stars at the window but there are two strands of other lights coming down from a large star. There is a string of lights in the storm porch - all staying until 2 Feb.

Teddy123 this is how to avoid having to decorate the tree next year.

radicalgran i heard it was to be a Friday possibly leading into the Saturday [chsmile]