Ten fingers drumming.

I'm always a little surprised and very depressed at people's tolerance for Christmas after the Big Day is over. The guy next door (not the one fated for federal prison; the other one) couldn't wait to rip it all down on January 2. And I mean all of it--the front of the house, the pool area, two trees in the windows, all gone by evening on January 2. It was amazingly efficient. Meanwhile, I'll be waiting through the Real Epiphany. meaning January 6, to even turn off the outdoor lights. 

Which puts me right up on the first snowstorm of the year, by the way, so who's the dumdum now? 

Jack Ziegler's classic New Yorker cover, from back when the magazine was funny.
Available in poster form! (Plugged to avoid angry Take Down notification) 

Before I owned a home I never paid much attention to when people de-decorated. It was back to work after New Year's, and the tree in the office lobby would disappear that week, and my own tree had to get out before the pine needles were thick on the floor, and it just went away like post-Christmas magic. Now I have to think about these things. 

Many Catholics are firm believers that the stuff stays up until Epiphany, but when is that? Technically it is always January 6, but in the American church it is celebrated at Mass on the first Sunday after January 1, which this year was January 2. There was kind of a traffic jam this year, since January 1 is itself the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, a day of obligation, but since it was on a Saturday the obligation was abrogated... so we didn't know what was happening. Anyway, technically Epiphany was January 2, so sticklers for the Epiphany-as-end could take their things down on the third. But, as I've written before, in the church the Christmas season actually begins on Christmas and ends at the Baptism of the Lord, which in 2022 is January 9. Then we go back to Ordinary Time. 

Historically, the Christmas season doesn't actually end until Candelmas, a.k.a. the Presentation of the Lord, on February 2. Yes, that's Groundhog Day, and if you don't take your decorations down by then your neighbors will think you're stuck in Groundhog Day. (Not this blog! No Santa Shaming here! Unless we feel like it.)

So that's the story, and that's why I'll be on the porch in the snow this weekend, taking in my decorations. We have been using a fake tree indoors for years, so God knows when I'll put that away. I'm tired just thinking about it.