PUT IT AWAY!!!

[BookstoreEscapee]

There are two houses that I pass on my way to work (on the same road but a few miles apart at least) that still have Christmas decorations in their yards. Oddly, they're pretty much the same decorations. Both have rows of 2-foot tall candy canes along the top edge of the yard, and several of those giant inflatable things (no offense to anyone but I think those things are hideous). One has four of them, and the other has six. All uninflated, sitting in sad little heaps of fabric on the grass.

My roommate said there's a house on her way to work that still has a fully-decorated Christmas tree in the window.

[Rine]

I'll admit--it took us about two or three weeks to take our Christmas lights down. But we did take in yard decorations (no inflatables because I think those are stupid too) pretty early on--it's the lights that we always attempt to ignore.

Some folks on a nearby street keep their lights up year round. I think they still have ribbon wrapped around their porch posts.

[Aethian]

Seen while in a coffee joint...

Yes I just love the Christmas Lights on the Pumpkins, don't you?

[BookstoreEscapee]

See, I can see leaving them up for a week or two after New Years. But February is more than half over. Time to put 'em away.

We took ours down mid-January but then again we didn't have anything outside except for Santa on the door, which I had brought inside before we took the rest of the stuff down. And no one sees our door unless we let them in, anyway, because the outside door (shared by two apartments) locks automatically.

[1756GR2]

My family kept our stuff up till about Easter one year. But we were waiting till my brother got home from Vietnam so we could have Christmas together.

Otherwise, it's down a few days after New Year.

Those folks' decorations must be filthy by now. Echhh.

[Becks]

Last week, while somewhere in or around Manitowoc, the MOTH™ and I saw the remnants of an inflatable Santa.

Without the head.

I was traumatized.

[One-Fang]

Dang.

Christmas lights = December.

Never put 'em up before the 1st, never leave 'em up past the 31st.

[Racket_Man]

I still have the roof icicle lights on our house for two reasons.

I will not get up on a ladder and take them down when it is still below ZERO and there is still like 2 feet of snow on the ground

and

I will not get up on a ladder when the ground/soil/lawn is the consistancy of pudding even with a board under the ladder legs. though about doing it during the recent warm snap but the snow melted too fast and the soil was mush

and I will never put inflatibles up in the yard as I am literally right next to a high school. Dead plastic on the lawn 2 days after spending that kind of money is just not me.

[Cookiesaur]

I went for a walk in December in a part of our neighbourhood I don't usually go through and passed a house that was decorated extravagantly for Valentine's Day, complete with banners and paper rose arrangements on the door. They could have been eager, but given how badly sun-faded everything was, it's more likely the decorations had been up for a long time instead.

[blas]

Don't throw anything....

But in the home we lived in the longest while I was growing up, I think my dad put the Christmas lights up in November/December 1991 or 92.....and didn't take them down until at least 2000.

I. Shit. You. Not.

[Broomjockey]

We always left our Christmas decoractions up until at least Ukrainian Christmas, which was Jan. 19th. I think the deflated decorations should be dealt with, but if someone wants to leave up their lights or what-have-you, it's their business. They may have reasons beyond what you know.

[Kheldarson]

My family leaves the decorations up until after Epiphany. This year we took them down after the Baptism...

One year though, Mom had put a bow around the lamp post in the yard and decided it looked nice. My gym teacher called me into her office to tell me to tell my mom that it needed to come off. My mom was so mad...

[blas]

If they think that's bad, I have a coworker who lives in a trailer who has a wind chime made out of Nattie's Ice beer cans.

True story.

[draftermatt]

I still have the roof icicle lights on our house for two reasons.

Thank-you! I took down all my outside decorations in Mid-January (I stop turning them on after New Years). But the ones on my roof were up till two weekends ago (Feb 7) because I wasn't getting on the ladder (40' extension ladder raised all the way up) when it was that cold, that windy, that icy.

My neighbor was up on his roof back in January taking his lights off the roof during an ice storm (hadn't started hard yet, but still).

[CaroPhoenix]

My gym teacher called me into her office to tell me to tell my mom that it needed to come off. My mom was so mad...

I can understand your mom being so mad. Why should your gym teacher care about the bow? And what was the teacher going to do if your mom didn't take down the bow? Fail ya? Sheesh!