This Is Officially The Right Date To Take Your Christmas Decorations Down
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The less we talk about 2020 the better. However, one amusing trend that arose during the festive period last year involved people putting up their Christmas decorations earlier and keeping them up for longer than they normally would.
Lots of us decided to keep the festivities going for a few more days, weeks and some people even kept their trees up long enough to transform them into Valentine’s Day trees.
The right time to take down your Christmas decorations is a controversial topic and if you were to ask your family and pals, chances are each person would give you a slightly different answer.
To find out the exact time we should all un-deck our halls and pack away our boughs of holly, tinsel and baubles, Tyla spoke with etiquette expert William Hanson about Christmas decorations.
There are actually different rules for us regular folk and the Queen. It is thought Her Majesty keeps her decorations up until she leaves Sandringham and returns to London, or Windsor, after Accession Day on the 6th February, William explains.
The reason behind the monarch keeping her decorations up until February is to mark the death of her father, King George VI on 6th February 1952. Fans of The Crown will recall his death is featured in season one of the hit Netflix period drama.
The official date for the rest of us is much earlier. “The usual - and still correct - rule was you take them down on the twelfth night of Christmas, which for 2022 is Wednesday 5th January,” William explains.
“The Queen has her own reasons and frankly, as a long-serving Monarch, she can get away with whatever.
“For the rest of us, the twelfth night is as good a date as ever to take them down. Get on with the new year and put Christmas behind you.
“I worry that people make Christmas go on for too long, these days, which dilutes the fun."
Christmas decorations normally go up at the beginning of advent, or the fourth Sunday before Christmas, which in 2021 was Sunday 28th November.
TikTok’s “Duchess of Decorum” Pattie Ehsaei said the first week in December is generally the best time to put up Christmas is the first week of December. The American-based expert, who has 800,000 followers, tells Tyla this schedule gives Americans a break between Thanksgiving and Christmas. “This break allows each holiday to be special on its own, rather than going immediately into another holiday,” she said.
Apart from the double turkey season for Americans, the rules are the same for those celebrating Christmas on both sides of the Atlantic.
While William understands lots of people decided to start their Christmas season earlier and kept it going for longer than usual due to the tragedy that was 2020, he hopes this is an exception. “Christmas starts earlier and earlier with each passing year and it was understandable that people wanted to add some sparkle and festive cheer a bit sooner in 2020. But I hope that becomes the exception and not the rule.”
We won’t judge if you bend the rules!
