Do You Get Sad When You Put Christmas Decorations Away?

[alicat8]

I always get sad when we take our tree and decorations down and put them away.

We always put them up early (usually the weekend following Thanksgiving unless Thanksgiving is "late" then it's the weekend before) and I just love having everything out. The house looks so pretty with all the lights and decorations, etc.

We leave everything up until at least January 7th, so this weekend we'll take it all down and put it away. The house looks so bare when everything is put away. I just hate it.

I know some people like to take their tree and decorations down the day after Christmas, or at least by New Year's Day, but I'd be happy leaving ours up until spring....well, almost.

The funny thing about me is that I hate them as soon as Christmas is over. And I'm a Christmas maniac-I'd put them up the day after Halloween if it were socially acceptable. I don't mind that they decorate stores and start playing music on Nov. 1st. It makes me happy! But for some reason, the day after Christmas, I want it gone! It's still up in my house (because of laziness, mostly) and I feel like it's taunting me. I just find it all depressing once Christmas is over. So I'm happy once they're down.

 

[ronandannette]

I'm not so much sad as nostalgic. While I love my house decorated, I like the peace of a less busy house, when it's over.

Not sad, I also really like this time of year. Now that all the festivities (as wonderful as they were) are behind us we can just "put it on auto-pilot" and coast for a few months. Very restful actually. (We put our Christmas stuff up all at once on the weekend nearest Dec. 15 and take it all down down after Epiphany - Dec. 6.)

 

[LBIJim]

Yeah, I get somewhat sad when it's time to take down the Christmas décor. Probably because it reminds me that I'm another year older.

The fake tree is down and stored away, but the ornaments are still sitting loosely in boxes in the dining room. Some of the other décor is still on display. Will probably finish this weekend.

There always seems to be at least one piece that gets overlooked and not taken down until February or later. A Santa refrigerator magnet has been there since December 2013.

 

[ronandannette]

Yeah, I get somewhat sad when it's time to take down the Christmas décor. Probably because it reminds me that I'm another year older.

The fake tree is down and stored away, but the ornaments are still sitting loosely in boxes in the dining room. Some of the other décor is still on display. Will probably finish this weekend.

There always seems to be at least one piece that gets overlooked and not taken down until February or later. A Santa refrigerator magnet has been there since December 2013.

Thanks for the reminder! DH bought a new "special" Santa this year and put it up on top of an out-of-the-way bookshelf. I'd easily overlook that sucker for quite a while if you hadn't mentioned it.

 

[Diznygrl]

It would make me sad if I took the decorations down right after or a couple days after Christmas Day, but since I wait it out until Epiphany, I don't get sad about it.

I like Christmas to extend a bit further than Dec. 25th even if the rest of the country has moved on by the 26th...but by now I've definitely had enough and it's time for the tree to come down. Probably won't get to it until the weekend, though.

 

[Sabeking]

Not even a little bit! But I am a freak about having my house in order. This year we left the Saturday after Christmas for LA so I took it all down the day after Christmas. My family kept teasing me knowing how I am and knowing we were going out of town. They asked me what our plans were for Christmas Eve, to take the tree down??!! I can't say it didn't cross my mind. Lol

 

[Neesy228]

I love Christmas. LOVE it.

That being said, once New Years Day is over, I start longing for a less "cluttered" house and the ability to clean well. So, I don't have much sadness.

I have been taking decorations down all week and the only things left at this point are the 5 trees that I have to disassemble and store and/or haul to the curb...My DD has been begging me to leave the trees for "one more day" for a week now, but I think I've had enough!

 

[wishesuponastar]

I do get sad to put it all away. My birthday is Dec. 29 and DH is Jan. 4th so we usually leave it up until New Years week because DH says it's time to take it down then. This year I convinced him to wait until this weekend because DD17's boyfriend was coming over and he didn't see our tree yet. Glad we waited because DD wanted their picture taken in front of the tree. I would leave it up until February. I enjoy the lights, have them on now and I love to look at all the ornaments especially the kids handmade ones. The tree all decorated feels so cozy to me.

 

[Angelrose]

Yes I do get sad. Since I have so many decorations for every room in the house, I start decorating November 2. The tree is up the weekend before Thanksgiving. I'm finally done decorating the first weekend in December. I just hate to take down all the decorations and lights. They make my house so pretty and it makes me feel closer to my dear husband.

Christmas was his favorite holiday and he always told me that seeing my decorations made him happy.

 

[lucyanna girl]

I still have my tree up. I always hate taking it down but especially this year, my youngest will be married by next Christmas and it will be the first with only my husband and I living at home in a long, long time.

Also, all of our ornaments on our nine foot tree are Disney. We have been collecting them for many years and it is getting quite full!

Penny

 

[3CW]

nope cuz by the time we take down all of our decorations its literally march if not april.
basically we enjoy being able to enjoy the lights and decorations during the dark winter months cuz it lifts up our spirits.
so we are ready to part with them once spring comes.
people think we are nuts but we don't care.

We are exactly this way too! The tree doesn't go up until after Thanksgiving, but it usually doesn't come down until the weekend of the spring time change. We're not religious and I get seasonal depression, so for us it's more about cheering up those cold, gray winter days - why pack it all up at the end of December when there's still months to go before spring?

 

[Oodalally13]

Mine is still up. I'm trying to convince myself to leave a little fiber optic tinsel tree up and redecorate it for all the holidays but then I think "meh"......however I just bought a new tree yesterday. It was a 7 foot pre-lit silver tinsel tree I had been eyeing since thanksgiving. Regularly $225, got it for $60 (including tax)

 

[aprilgail2]

I put the tree up in the beginning of Dec and love everything leading up to Christmas but once it is over the day after Christmas I am ready to get all that stuff put away for another year! I would be twitching if I still had it up for New Years!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Some years I feel it's cluttered, but this year I put up less "stuff" and I don't feel overwhelmed. We did two trees instead, and I'll actually hate to see them go.

 

[tvguy]

We bought a new artificial tree, took it down yesterday, which meant I had to drag out the old one, the one we've had for 28 years out to the trash. The one going to the dump is the one our now adult kids grew up with. So a little sad, but the memories live on, even if it's fake needled were falling off.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My company shuts down for a week & I have to save a week of vacation for that time (of the 3 I get in total). We almost never do much of anything with the time off, so I get a feeling of wasted opportunity. I won't get another scheduled day off work until Memorial Day.

So yeah, a little depressing, albeit not for the reasons OP mentions.

 

[kinntj]

Not really sad to see it get packed up. January 2nd was our take down day and the kids are here to help, so it's a family affair.

We still have our Nativity set up until this weekend.

We will start putting up Valentines stuff next weekend. Our daughter made some snowflakes and those are already up. January through March is tough with the winter blues and I decorate more during these winter months. Time to burn some candles too for warmth.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I did not decorate this yr (due to stuff going on) and surprisingly, did not bother me one bit.

In fact, I am going to be taking on a more minimalist approach from now on.

 

[NotUrsula]

Nope, because then I get to put up the Carnival things.. Tuesday the fir wreath came down and the Krewe flag went up. I like Christmas, but I *love* Carnival season.

Taking down the Carnival stuff on Ash Wednesday does make me a little blue, but then, Lent is supposed to be that way.

 

[Wendy31]

Not really sad, but more contemplative. Taking down our Christmas decorations is more bittersweet for me than sad, I guess... realizing another year is over & that our 3 children are another year older, thinking about how many Christmases DH & I have had together, how the years change us, where we are now & wondering where we'll be next Christmas...

And the season does seem to go by so fast! DH was helping me take the ornaments off the tree in our kitchen, &, as a he got a whiff of the cinnamon from the cinnamon-applesauce ornaments he said, "Good grief! It seems like yesterday you were baking Christmas cookies, & now it's already time to take it all down."

We have tons of Christmas decorations - in every room. And, while I love our Christmas decor, there's also something nice about having it all put away & having our house return to normal. There's more space to breathe or something.

We normally decorate for Christmas the Friday after Thanksgiving; this year, we decorated the weekend before Thanksgiving. So, by New Year's Day, I'm ready for it all to be put away, the new year to begin, & plans to be made for summer vacation.

We "undecorate" anywhere from New Year's Day to the 12th Day of Christmas (1/6). Like another PP mentioned, by 1/2, the décor starts to look cluttery & sad to me - like it's "taunting" & reminding me "Christmas is over! It's a new year!". This year, due to some other things, we started taking everything down on 1/6 & finished yesterday.

I just have a few wintery decorations out now - snowmen & snowflakes.