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I will admit that I judge people whose Christmas lights are still up after Valentine’s Day. I think of Valentine’s Day as the cutoff as it’s the next holiday. Plus six weeks is plenty of time to take down decorations. Christmas lights still up in mid January are pretty and help cut into the dreariness of winter a little. (Jezebel had an editorial ages ago about how Christmas should be at the end of January to help break up winter better and I agree.) So while there’s no rush to take down your tree right away, I think six weeks is a reasonable deadline. What about April, though? Brooklyn Decker recently instagrammed a picture of her Christmas tree, which is still up.
This doesn’t look like the main Christmas tree. It’s more like a kids’ tree or secondary tree. It’s clearly fake but designed to look like a real, sparse tree. It also might not even be in her main home as the Decker-Roddicks have a home in Austin, Texas and another in Cashiers, North Carolina. So maybe this is a forgotten kids’ tree and/or it’s in a second home. Brooklyn and her husband, Andy Roddick, have son Hank, three and a half, and daughter Stevie, about one and a half. So she’s busy at home. Hopefully all the main Christmas stuff is put away by now.
I found a newish interview with Brooklyn on the Texas Monthly podcast. She said that she doesn’t have a strategy with social media and that she’s “just a pretty raw person.” She can go a while without posting and mostly posts when she’s not with her kids. “You can tell when I’m really bored and lonely because I’m posting a lot.” She hasn’t posted much lately so I would assume she’s quite busy.
People who have their Christmas lights still up at this point in the year are generally the type of people who leave them up all year around. I’ve never thought about whether they have their decorations still up inside their homes though. I’m just realizing that I’ve never been inside anyone’s home who keeps Christmas decorations up past Valentines’ Day. I haven’t!
Photos credit: Getty and via Instagram
Trees up in April? No. Boxed decorations still in temporary locations instead of where they belong in the attic and basement? Yes.
LOL, my tree is still in a box in my now ex’s living room. I moved out in January :/ Better to clutter his place than my fresh, new one, no?
I was going to be all judgmental and stuff but then I realized I have a small tree upstairs we put in a front window in a room we rarely go into and it’s still up. Not plugged in but still up. It was overlooked in the Great Christmas Put Away 2019. So, no judgement from me LOL.
I know someone who’s made it her “thing” on social media to post photos of Christmas trees either in windows or on the sidewalk long after Christmas. It always seemed mean-spirited to me, particularly one year when all hell broke loose on 1/1, with Mr. Birdix in the hospital in a different state. I don’t even remember how late it was when the tree came down, but it was long past Valentine’s Day.
The year my son was born (late October baby) the tree stayed up until Valentine’s Day at least. The next year I didn’t even bother putting it up, because I was afraid he’d pull it over on himself. Since then, I think it’s been up part-way into February a couple of times (probably also the year my daughter was born). I try to have it down sometime in January, but whatever. If it bothers people, they are welcome to come take care of it!
I’ve once had it up so late I just kept it there through the following holiday.
Kind of awkward with guests.
I’m overwhelmingly lazy.
Oh, yes, Raina! Leaving her Christmas tree up until April? What an amateur. Not only have we left ours up until April/May many times, but we’ve deliberately left it up from one Christmas to the next on more than one occasion. Most people down here don’t tend to go the whole hog with decorating the entire house, probably because it’s full-on Summer in December. But we do like our trees, and because ours always looks so beautiful, it just seems a shame to take it down so soon.
Nope. Nope. Nope. A few of my neighbors still have decorations frozen in the ground in their front yards, I want to run over and help yank the dang things up! The Easter Bunny and Santa are not supposed to be having a group meeting in the yard, people. C’mon, man…it’s 4 months!
I have a friend who keeps her tree up for MONTHS (it’s fake) and she just has started decorating it for the holidays, lol. Like she keeps her Xmas decorations up on it, but then adds a string of lighted hearts for Valentines day, etc. It cracks me up.
I remember a friend of mine from middle school parents kept their fully decorated tree in the basement family room year round and would just bring it up to the main floor living room during the Christmas season. I used to think that would be so fun, seeing it all year and I get not wanting to go through all the take down and redecorate every year but now I wouldn’t. It takes away the specialness and it’s fun decorating IMO.
Also, I always forget that she is married to Andy Roddick. I want their North Carolina house. that is gorgeous.
I always forget that, too. What an insanely beautiful couple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen pictures of their kids, but they must be beyond precious.
I might have a small crush on this woman.
There are a few houses locally who still have their christmas wreaths on the front door . I just assume the owner is laying dead and undiscovered inside
Lol! I still have the wreath on my front door with gold deer and balls still on it. The batteries for the twinkle lights died back in January. I just forgot to take it down and mostly use the back door so I keep forgetting. My neighbors probably think I’m dead too!
I have mine on my front door 🤣Many others in my neighborhood do to,my front door isn’t a door we actually use-it’s our side door where we we enter and exit.When I drive past my true front door I see it and think I’ll take it down when I get home but alas…I forget
The wreath is still up at our office, it’s the town joke that it always stays until Easter.
I turn off my lights after New Years, and take them down when the weather permits. This year with two youngish kittens, I didn’t even put up inside decorations, but I usually get those down in early January too. I love Christmas, but when it’s done, it’s done.
This comment was pure gold.
I have strict rules; decorations go up the Friday after thanksgiving and down New Year’s Day. Once it took me two weeks into January but that was because I couldn’t take the tree out of my apartment, I have no elevator, and I literally had to hack it to bits with a knife because the nearest tree collection was in Champ de Mars and I refused to drag the thing through the streets of Paris. That was the last time I decorated. Thankfully Paris is the least Christmasey place on earth so I don’t even notice that I’m missing out on all the American Martha Stewart-y Christmas fun.
I also wish we could move Christmas. Once Christmas is over, I want winter to be over, and on December 26, spring is still a long way away.
I like leaving the tree up for as long as I can, but I probably pushed it this year. I also left my decorations up waaaay too long. Usually I get sick of them and it starts to feel cluttered, but this year it didn’t really happen and I had to force myself to do it.
Looking over my coffee cup at my Vera Bradley Christmas tree with all the VB ornaments ever released, still up with the lights on…..who me? Nope….I would never do that…..
P.S. I love that tree, my boys clearly are not VB fans, I keep that tree up with all the colorful, vibrant ornaments because it makes my heart happy to see it. If that is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
That’s one sad looking Christmas tree.
I hope she’s ok and that this and her drastic weight loss are not signs of depression
I’m not concern trolling I’m being 100% sincere
She just seems so different since kids
I have a wreath up on my mantle but it’s in hues of silver and metallic blue and some navy with a string of clear lights (led on an invisible string).It is there because I don’t know what to replace it with and per usual I forget what was initially there 😐
I guess I will just go to pottery barn and find something new,but it’s been winter weather we’re I live ALL year so..
It also depends on the persons job and kids ages-a medical resident I knew admitted with great guilt that between kids and her crazy work schedule her tree was up in JULY!!!
No judgement from me.
My window air conditioner is still in from last year. Be looking like a genius move soon
It’s pretty common here for people to repurpose their trees (if artificial) for Mardi Gras with purple, green and gold decorations.
But my husband and I like the separation between Christmas and Carnival seasons, so that tree is down by the Feast of the Epiphany every year.
Nope, nope, nope for me.
Everything comes down completely within a few days of the new year. I struggle a lot with holiday cheer in the last few years, so the only way I can preserve it in any way (in a world where holiday commercials start in September and Christmas in July is still a thing) is to keep it as close to December as possible. There’s wiggle room starting the day after Thanksgiving but the tree doesn’t go up until December 1st.
You are my #goals-and I totally agree with the ridiculousness of Christmas decorations on store display the day after Labor Day-one holiday runs into the next and I get anxious and depressed.
Nope! I thought I’d want to leave my decorations up longer since winter can be so drab, but I also found a lot of joy in cleaning up and putting it all away. At a certain point it all feels like clutter.
Mine comes down on Jan 1. But then again I have a live tree and needles are falling by then. Luckily I have wood floors.
I just took ours down. My ex and his wife wouldn’t let our daughters touch theirs at all, including putting up any ornaments they made and they had so much fun decorating ours. They pretty much did it all themselves, all I did was set it up. Everytime I went to take it down they’d beg me to leave it up just a little bit longer. Finally I convinced them if it stayed up any longer it wouldn’t be as special next year.
So sweet!! Mine campaigned for ours to stay up a little later this year too, but I overruled them mid-January when I got sick of looking at it. You’re making memories with them that they will treasure in years to come. 🙂
I really like Brooklyn for sharing this; so much more refreshing than all the perfection we see in the media! I routinely find cobwebs around Halloween that are NOT decorations…
My tree is still up from last year because my son says it’s “too beautiful” to take down.
She’s terrific in Grace & Frankie. Great taste in where her homes are located.
Supposedly, Jack Benny kept a tree up all year because it brought him joy, so no big deal.
Hell no. Part of getting in the holiday mood, spirit is hauling out decorations and loading up the small artificial trees and one large fresh tree. And Thanksgiving weekend is normally when I start cleaning and getting ready to light up the inside of the house with warm white lights everywhere. Between end of November until January 2, our nights are lit only with holiday lighting. If I had everything up for months it wouldn’t be as exciting and mood-altering lol.
I take my down on New Year’s Eve (during the day usually) every year. Sometimes even the 30th. It doesn’t feel right to me to have last year’s Christmas still hanging around in the New Year. Something about fresh starts or something. I want the previous year all neatly put away when the new one starts. That said, I don’t do New Year’s resolutions or even give a crud about the new year…I just don’t want last year’s Christmas decor still there to be dealt with.
We keep the white outdoor light up year round. We turn on the lights when we expect guests. The lights make a nice first impression, in my opinion, that suggests that more exciting things are happening inside the house and the back patio.
As a mom of 2, that is literally like a 10 minute job.
I would go bananas if I still had Christmas stuff up in April! We don’t have a huge house, and have two kids. So it’s already a constant battle to keep things neat and uncluttered. Plus, I never ever do fake trees, only live ones (just my preference) so it would be a total fire hazard and pine needle fest by April. I keep it up until mid January and then down it comes.
When I was in highschool my pops and I had a battle of wills on who would take the tree down, I lost, it went down in May.
I leave my lights up until time change… not sorry, they are cheerful in a dreary winter climate.
The last time I put up a Christmas tree I took it down on Christmas day. I just couldn’t take it anymore. That was at least 10 years ago, I can’t stand indoor decorations in my house anymore.
I have noticed people leaving lights on outside year round, and I like it. Not necessarily Christmas lights, but Diwali lights too. I’m all for lights on houses year round, they make me happy.
I’ve never had a plastic tree or wreath. I suppose you can do that with those. Americans strike me as using plastic decoration a lot. Real ones become a fire hazard really fast.
I find it tacky when people put up their Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving so….This is just depressing.
I’ve done the 3 am stealthy Christmas tree drag to the dumpster in June before when I lived in a apartment complex.
Now we have a really nice fake one that you can’t tell is fake unless you really look hard.
That one came down about 3 weeks ago 😁