The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #65994 Message #1092150
Posted By: PoppaGator
13-Jan-04 - 04:51 PM
Thread Name: BS: Christmas lights still up?
Subject: RE: BS: Christmas lights still up?
We're usually late putting 'em up and late taking 'em down. It is definitely against our religion to close down any Christmas-related objects or functions on or before Jan 6, aka Little Christmas, aka Twelfth Night, aka Feast of the Epiphany, and most importantly aka as the first day of Carnival (Mardi Gras Season).
We got the tree un-decorated, taken down, and put out on the street as quickly as possible on the 7th. There is a tree-recycling program in our area; used Christmas trees are systematically placed in the Louisiana wetlands to prevent (well, to slow down or partially counteract, at least) coastal erosion. The truck that collects trees for this purpose visits each neighborhood one time only, and we don't want to miss it.
One nearby neighborhood has a Christmas-tree bonfire every year on New Year's Eve. Those folks obviously take their trees down a little earlier than most of the rest of us. The fire is located in the wide neutral ground (median strip? grassy area between lanes of the street) in front of an elementary school that our kids attended back in the 80s. For years, we saw the aftermath (charred grass, etc.) on the first day of school after Christmas, but never saw the fire itself. This year, my wife got to witness it for the first time while I was home nursing a cold and keeping daughter and granddaughter company. She reports that it was quite a sight to see, accompanied by tons of fireworks.
Our modest outdoor decoration -- a string of white lights around thge upper half of oure front door -- is still up. Might stay there for a while.