Like Ladyfisher, I hate to let Christmas go, though the way we celebrate it now is overblown a bit.
My wife and I remember when the tree and decorations did not go up till Christmas Eve. We speculate that our folks were more in tune with the penitential Advent Season that the churches observed. Even Christmas Eve was a Fast Day. Then the party started on Christmas and went on through the traditional 12 nights ending on the Epiphany (3 Kings Day, Jan. 7, this year).
Now the party starts right after Halloween and culminates with the New Year’s Orgy. When did it become de rigueur to start the year with a hangover? Were the old ways better? At least there is a case for keeping the tree lit till the Kings find their way.
PS, my rule is that the tree must be removed by Ash Wednesday. The old ways die hard.
When I was a kid the tree always stayed up until the January 8th. It was a leftover from growing up in a PA coal region town with a strong population of Orthodox Christians who celebrated their Christmas on January 7th.
Everybody kept their trees up until after all the neighbors were done with their Christmas celebration in case Orthodox neighbors came calling over the Holidays.
My wife is Aleut from the Pribilof Islands and Russian Orthodox. We too leave the tree up until after Orthodox Christmas. We celebrate both Christmas’…twice as fun that way. We take it down after my daughter’s bday which is the next day, January 8.
The house looks so festive during the holidays.
Peace on Earth, Good will towards everybody.
It’s made out of polymer clay, the kind that hardens when you bake it in the oven. My wife was making some ornaments out of it and I decided I’d give it a shot. I’d be happy to post a picture of it when the painting is finished, but that might take a while since the first layer of paint has remained slightly tacky and I’m afraid I’m going to have to find some way to strip it off and use a different paint.
Alaska Dean, we kept ours up until the 6th which is when Christmas ends for Catholics (12 days, like the song). Unfortunately, it’s still kind of a bummer for us when most everyone starts taking everything down on the 26th.
