When are you planning to decorate for Christmas this year?

[Andybev01]

It's a 4' artificial tree.

[MauEvig]

I could make another thread for this, but I'm curious when everyone takes their Christmas stuff down.
I heard it's bad luck to take the tree down before New Year's. But I might take a few things down leading up to New Year's seeing how I have to go back to work on January 3rd. But the tree itself I'm adamant about it staying up through New Year's, and I feel like the outdoor decorations need one last hoorah before I take them down. Thoughts?
Also this is a good time of year to stock up on holiday lights...usually anyway. I often recycle the red lights for Valentine's day and make a heart out of them. I wanted to get some green ones for St Patty's...but no such luck.
I found some cute lights and a Christmas Hello Kitty inflatable marked down at Walmart today though and like to take advantage of discounted decorations after the holidays. I was shocked at just how much it was cleared out! But I did find some of those summer sausage, cheese and cracker kits half off. Those things are good, but they are one of those things I prefer waiting until after Christmas to get. $10.00 is a bit much for a box of those, but $5.00 each? Much better of a bargain!
I also invested in a new holiday projector on Amazon. The nice thing about this is that it covers a lot of bases...including almost everyone's favorite Halloween holiday. I was happy with this investment. This one even has holidays that my old one doesn't have, like St Patty's and Thanksgiving (this one has fall leaves which is perfect for Thanksgiving and the general fall season, while still having spooky stuff for Halloween).
I won an Amazon gift card from work when the new academic year started, so I figured I'd invest in a new projector. This is the one I ordered:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H9 ... UTF8&psc=1
I hope it holds up better than my old one too. I got my old one from Ollie's and it's served it's purpose. But unfortunately, the weather ruins the slides. I figured I'd give it one last run before upgrading it next year. I'm looking forward to having some fantastic displays for all the holidays in 2024.

[Murfreesboro]

Looks like you got a great deal on that projector! I hope it gives you years of fun.

A great many of my holiday decorations have been acquired after the holiday. Once you have a basic number, it makes no sense to pay full price.

I make a big deal of leaving all my Christmas stuff up and running through Epiphany (Jan 6), the ancient conclusion of the Christmas season. But I'm fine with people taking them down at New Year's. I get that in our culture, most people believe it's back to work on Jan 2. I'm just stubborn.

[Andybev01]

I start slowly, on January 2nd.

The overtly Christmas things go first.

Angels Santas and snowmen, and anything shiny red and green get tucked away first, but snowy whites and gold get left out for a week or so.

The tree doo-dads get re-boxed soon as well, but the lit tree hangs around for about a month more.

It creates too much of an emotional vacuum if it disappears in one fell swoop.

Outdoor decor goes back in storage on the 2nd as well (HOA rules) but indoors there are always mini lights all over, all year long, but only the warm white ones.

I have a large collection of wreaths for all seasons.

I'll swap out evergreens and ornaments for fruit and spring blossoms just before valentine's day, along with seasonal vase filler.

Drapes and shower curtains displaying winter themes will melt into blue and white and cherry blossom prints.

It seems like a lot to do but I enjoy the rituals of the seasons just as much as the holidays that they embody.

The cat just stirred, stretching and repositioning himself.

It must be too warm over there in his sunny spot.

[Murfreesboro]

I love the way you think, Andy.

I think Santa stuff can come down, but the more religious stuff can stay up through the 6th.

That said, I have a Santa doorhanger on my kitchen door, and I often leave him up through Valentine's, because he has a large pink heart on his chest.

[Andybev01]

I have a set of heart ornaments that sometimes will go on a mini lit tree or in a bowl on a shelf for valentine's.

Also some reproduction Easter eggs that get displayed as well.

That's about as far as I can go into the year having a tree out.

[Murfreesboro]

We don't have an HOA in our neighborhood, but we do have a condo board over at the condo we inherited. We think they have a stick up their posteriors because the rules are so picayune. They allow almost zero exterior decor at any time (a discreet seasonal wreath is it), and all draperies must be lined in white, so no one can see color from the outside. I'm glad I don't live there.

If I did live there, I think I'd bring up the liturgical calendar re their holiday bans.

[MauEvig]

Man, I would hate the neighborhood telling me what I can and can't decorate with. The more I hear about this stuff, the more glad I am that we live out in the country.
I think with the exception of occasional temporary burn bans (and for good reason, we live in the middle of a forest) we can pretty much do what we want.
I mean what's the point of being a homeowner if you can't decorate the way you want to decorate? I can understand having to adhere to the rules of a landlord, but if you own the home and land I don't get it? I mean, I could see the town having rules about dumping and such and not leaving your yard a wreck, but gee whiz. Telling people when they can and can't decorate for certain holidays just seems wrong to me.
As much as I miss being in the neighborhood for trick or treat, I can make up for it by going to a trunk or treat or "Boo Bash" at my elementary school I work at. At least I can put whatever decorations I want in the yard. And since my schedule is so busy and I'm so tired half the time, I'm glad there's no time limit for when I can take the stuff down.
I'm probably going to take down the decorations before I go back to work on Wednesday though. I'm ready for the holidays to be over, although it's hard to get through the 26th for me at first. Now it's like, alright I have to go back to work and business has to continue as usual. I'll just look forward to what's next. And we get a few days off in January for President's day and such anyway and Martin Luther King Day. I don't really do anything to celebrate those holidays at all, more power to people that do but it'll just be a nice day to relax at home for me.

[MauEvig]

Where'd the edit button go?
On second thought, taking the tree down was definitely sad for me. But it's done.
We actually get one additional day off in January and nothing for February. It's leap year though so that should be interesting.
Definitely taking a nice long summer break this year though. I've worked summers every year since I worked at the high school and now the elementary school at a different district. Honestly, I think I earned it. So I'm definitely looking forward to summer.
Hopefully I'll feel better about taking the tree down when the Valentine's Day stuff goes up.

[Murfreesboro]

MLK is a January holiday, but Presidents' Day should be February. It was substituted years ago for Lincoln's birthday (Feb 12) and Washington's (Feb 22).

Does your district let you off for MLK, but not Washington and Lincoln? Washington was a Virginian.

[MauEvig]

Apparently, yeah. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Guess districts are trying to be more "PC"
That said, while they were working on the academic calendar for 2024-2025 there was a vote for a weeklong spring break as opposed to having it broken in half with a mini break for spring and a mini break for Easter. Hopefully it'll at least be close enough to Easter and not some random week in the middle of spring. I suppose I should be thankful we get Sunday off so we'll still get a break for Easter either way. But it won't feel quite the same not having a week to either precede or follow that holiday.
To me as long as there's a week off for Easter, I'll be happy. Not as fond of the mini breaks.
The high school I worked at was a lot more traditionalist. I actually enjoyed that aspect of it, because we had a week off for Thanksgiving and a week off for Easter ("Spring") break which was really nice and a day after (to allow for travelling families to return to work/school after taking vacation.) I never did anything fancy like go to the beach or anything. We just did stuff with the family. Of course, I grew up lower income so...yeah.
This school district comes across as slightly more PC, but that said it really depends on the individual person and there's plenty of religious folks as well. I try to just get along with everyone.
Of course the down side was not getting the little breaks in between, but I was ok with it. We usually got a decent number of snow days in between to break up the doldrums. I'm happy enough to have weekends off after having to spend years at jobs where I'd have to work weekends and holidays. I hated it, and realized real quick I'm not suited for hospitals, nursing homes or hotels where that's required.
But that said, some traditions I prefer to keep because I find them enjoyable and I'm not trying to impress a certain crowd or check off any "virtue" points.

[Murfreesboro]

Well, I'm sorry to hear that the scheduling up there is not so much to your liking. Here, they get a week of spring break, which often, but not always, coincides with Easter. If they are separate, everybody gets Good Friday off.

[MauEvig]

Well, I'm sorry to hear that the scheduling up there is not so much to your liking. Here, they get a week of spring break, which often, but not always, coincides with Easter. If they are separate, everybody gets Good Friday off.

It is what it is, Murf. Honestly, I do like how I'm treated (for the most part) at my job. I like my job and coworkers and have few complaints.
I probably get more days off than I did working in retail, customer service or food service. Hopefully I'll be happier when I get my teaching license and have my own classroom. But for now, I don't mind being an aide and helping the kids that really need the help.
Sounds nice where you live and how they do their breaks. It's nice to get Good Friday off. Honestly wouldn't mind Good Friday and then the proceeding week after Easter. The highschool did the preceding week before Easter and then an additional day. To be fair having the week before gives you time to prepare, but I suppose it's also nice to have some time off to relax after the festivities.

There's pros and cons to each scenario, I suppose. Take the good with the bad it seems.

[Andybev01]

I went to parochial school and Easter break was Easter break. Christmas was Christmas...etc.

We even had Columbus day and a handful of holy days off, although church attendance was mandatory on those days.

[MauEvig]

I went to parochial school and Easter break was Easter break. Christmas was Christmas...etc.

We even had Columbus day and a handful of holy days off, although church attendance was mandatory on those days.

By law, or by family? Just curious.

There are some things I definitely think were better back in the old days. And this is coming from a "millennial."
I really miss when Easter break was Easter break, Christmas Break was Christmas Break, etc. and none of this "Winter break" "Spring Break" "Fall Break" nonsense. The only one that really makes sense is "Summer Break" because it literally lasted all summer. Up north where I grew up, it was from late June through the day after Labor Day in September. Then that Wednesday we usually had to go back at school. A friend of mine had the misfortune that her birthday was usually around the time we started back at school.
But I guess it's no wonder I always saw 4th of July as the "kick off" to summer, rather than the end. Labor Day more or less marked the end of summer along with a local balloon festival that used to be held each year that same weekend. I'm not sure if they still have it or not. They had a few other festivals up there in that area as well usually starting in spring and ending in fall. One festival they don't even do anymore.
So summer was typically festival season for me.