Quiz | When Should You Take Your Decs Down?

Photography by Kath Sadler-Smith @hilltopcottagehome

Is it bad luck to take your decorations down before Twelfth Night? Will your neighbours judge you unfairly if your lights remain up into January? We’ve devised a clever and scientific  quiz that tells you when to take your decorations down, based on your personality. 

Q1: What’s the moment that tells you Christmas is here?

A. When I sit down on the shortest day of the year to open all the cards that have been arriving for weeks. I can’t bear them all hanging around for days on end so I save them to enjoy all in one go not long before the big day.

B. It’s when I close down the computer at 5pm on Christmas Eve and go and open the sherry. 

C. That first frost, usually mid-way through December. When I wake up and see a frosty lawn, I know it’s time to get the Carols from King’s CD out to play with my morning tea. 

D. The clocks go back. 

Q2: When do you put your Christmas tree up?

A. The second or third weekend in December. Any earlier and it starts shedding needles everywhere, plus you can’t really dust properly with the tree up so I leave it as late as my family will put up with so I know the place is clean for guests arriving.

B. On Christmas Eve, just in time for the first day of Christmas, of course! Anything before that is Advent and trees should not be up in Advent as far as I am concerned. It’s a bit ‘common’ isn’t it? 

C. December 1st, or the weekend nearest that. I’ll make sure I have loads of greenery and lights up for the whole month, too. I like to embrace the cold and dark of November but once December arrives it’s open season on the twinkly lights and candles!

D. WHICH Christmas tree? Because I do like a real one and that has to last until Christmas Day, so goes up a couple of weeks before. But I have a fake tree in every room and they go up as soon as I put the Halloween things away… 

Q3: What’s your favourite part of Christmas?

A. Waking up on Christmas morning when everything looks clean and sparkly and ready for the day ahead. 

B. The bit in between Christmas and New Year… friends and feasting, mixed in with slow days and quiet walks. 

C. I just love the whole season and marking all the ‘mini’ celebrations as they come and go, from Advent to Yule to Christmas itself and eventually Twelfth Night. 

D. The build up. I can’t start early enough and I just love the slow build of excitement, the carols playing in shops, lights starting to go up and spreading out my shopping and Christmassy outings all through December to make it last. 

Q4: What was your Christmas Dinner like? 

A. Something easy. I don’t believe in making life difficult for oneself. We did a turkey crown this year and pre-prepped veggies. Took half the time, was totally delicious and no one had to slave over the oven for seven hours!

B. I’m afraid I think turkey is a bit of a modern invention, so we had a traditional goose, followed by plum pudding, and very Dickensian it was too!

C. We actually had our main meal on Christmas Eve to take some of the main pressure off the day. We went for a Scandi-style fishy feast with Jansson’s Temptation and Salmon Gravlax. 

D. Well, we’d had turkey when we put the first trees up at Thanksgiving of course. And then we’d had Christmas Beef when the in-laws came for ‘third Christmas’... So by the 25th we all fancied something a bit different and had a three-bird roast. 

Q5: How does January make you feel? 

A. I’m a bit relieved to be ‘back to normal’ to be honest! I’ve cleared the decks, deep-cleaned the house and am enjoying simple food and some quiet weekends. Bliss!

B. We’re in the midst of our end-of-the-season celebrations still. We never take the decorations down until Twelfth Night, and we traditionally Wassail on the 17th so although Christmas is over, there are still lots of special days to mark.

C. While it’s nice to have the house back to normal, I do find January a bit dank and so I always leave up a few simple white lights and bring in plenty of candles to keep that twinkly feeling going a little longer. Soon the snowdrops will be out and the days will feel like they are starting to lengthen again. 

D. I like to hang on to Christmas as long as possible to battle the January blues. I’m afraid my tree is still up - it’s so cheering to see the lights twinkling in the window when I come home from work. Ever since the pandemic, we’ve left our outside lights up all year round to cheer passers by. So for me, January is still Christmas really - it’s all about attitude. 

Mostly As: The eager de-dresser

You should take your decorations down on Boxing Day. All the ‘stuff’ starts to stress you out fairly quickly at Christmas. You’re generally a tidy and organised type and while you love the festive period, the idea of losing important items under piles of paper chains and sweeping up Blue Spruce needles before breakfast each morning starts to make you twitchy a couple of weeks in. If you know that you only have to live with the chaos for a short while, you can throw yourself into it with more gusto, however. Once the big day is out of the way, get busy with the Hoover and bin bags, and enjoy having your space back again. If you want to retain a sense of festivity, you could always bring in some greenery for a Wassailing wreath for January, or add a few candles to mark Twelfth Night, but keep it simple and Low Key.

Mostly Bs: The traditional de-dresser

Take your decorations down on Twelfth Night. Christmas is all about the traditions for you, so why deviate from them when it comes to decorating? Embrace the ‘rules’ and maybe host an Epiphany party the day after the decs come down. Just because Christmas is over, doesn’t mean the fun has to stop.  

Mostly Cs: The romantic de-dresser

You should take your decorations down at Candlemas, which falls on 2 February, the day all the church’s candles for the year are blessed. In pre-Christian times, the similar festival of light, Imbolc, was celebrated at the same time. Either way, this point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, as things begin to thaw and the light returns, seems like a meaningful moment to cast off winter and look forward to Spring. It’s a particularly good time for old romantics like you, as it also allows you to hold on to the lights, twinkles and festive greenery of Christmas for just a little longer… at least until you can almost see Spring around the corner.

Mostly Ds: The post-pandemic ‘let’s make the most of it’ de-dresser

You should never take your deccies down. You love Christmas and live with it in your heart all year round. But most of all, you love the pleasure it brings other people. Untraditional it may be, but if your light-up reindeer in the front garden makes children smile on their way to school in June, who are we to say you are wrong? Maybe try toning it down just a little between February and October, just to feel the lights glow a little brighter through Winter. And perhaps take them down for a dusting now and then throughout the year. But otherwise, crack on. Some people only wish it could be Christmas every day. You make it happen. 

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Rituals | The Christmas Decs Box

It comes out each year, like an old friend. Here are a few ways to mark the return of the Christmas Decorations Box

Getting the box of decorations down from the attic is the moment Christmas truly arrives, isn’t it? Lifting back cardboard and pulling away bubble wrap to find familiar jewel coloured baubles nestled beneath feels a bit like coming home. And the moment when all the decorations go back in the box for another years often feels a bit poignant too, as the celebrations come to an end and life returns to normal once more. 

We think our Christmas Decs Boxes deserve a bit of reverence. So we’ve put together a few ideas for small rituals that will help make the putting up and the bringing down of the decs a bit more special, and a bit less of a chore. 

Putting up the decs rituals

1. Pick a festive tipple to be the drink you always have as you dress the tree and deck the halls. It can be as simple as a sherry if you want but you might like to pick something a bit unusual that’s particular to your household - have a look at The Simple Things blog and search ‘tipple’ for more ideas on festive cocktails you can make. It doesn’t have to be alcoholic though; try a non-alcoholic eggnog perhaps? Or a clementine mockjito maybe?  (Clementine juice muddled with sugar and lemon wedges, poured over ice and topped up with sparkling water.) Having a special ‘get the decs up’ tipple really makes it feel like the festivities are beginning. You can keep the recipe for your tipple in your decs box in case you need reminding. 

2. Keep a Decs Box guest book. Pop a little notebook in your box and each year, make a note of the date you put the decorations up, who was there to help and what you did. You could pop a photo in too if you like. As it grows each year, it will become a lovely little piece of family history. 

3. Make a playlist. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of Carols from Kings as you detangle the fairy lights, but if you make your own playlist on Spotify you can add to it whenever you come across a track you like. Doesn’t even have to be Christmassy; anything that gets you in the mood for throwing holly sprigs on top of picture frames. 

Taking down the decs rituals

1. Have an online Decs Down party. Get your wider family, or just a good friend you’re long overdue a natter with, on a video call, make a cuppa (or something stronger if you like) and catch up while you wind lights around cereal packets and carefully nestle baubles back in egg boxes. This idea is great if taking the decorations down always makes you feel maudlin. Once you’ve got everything packed up and had a lovely chat, get someone else to run the Hoover round and before you know it, everything is clean and sparkling and you’re already looking forward to a new year and new plans. 

2. Pop a copy of this year’s Radio Times, or a newspaper if you like, into the decs box as you close it. There’s something oddly fascinating about looking back and seeing what you watched on telly at Christmas 2008 somehow - like your own Blue Peter time capsule. 

3. Write to your future Christmas self. You can tell yourself anything - what you did this Christmas, any highlights and lowlights, what you’re hoping for in the coming year, and maybe even what your dreams are for this time next year. It makes interesting reading when you get the box down from the attic again next December. 

The picture above is one of our ‘simple things’ from our December issue. If you’re feeling inspired by the Christmas Decs Box rituals, you might also like to read our feature The Calm Before Christmas, starting on page 82, which has lots of ideas for an alternative advent full of kind and quiet rituals and habits.

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New products line the shelves at The Stuff of Life.

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen a number of new products filling our shelves at The Stuff of Life. There are now several new brands to discover as well as a fresh offering of products from some our most popular brands. 

How about a new art print for the bedroom or a set of knitted cushions to revive a tired sofa? Maybe your kitchen is crying out for a new set of chopping boards, or how about replacing those greying tea towels with a linen roller towel? All these products are on my wish list.

The Stuff of Life has new products across all its departments that include Wellbeing, Style, Escaping, Reading and Making. Browse the shop for yourself and let us know what’s on your wish list. Happy Shopping!

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Images from top, left to right: For Rest Print by One Must Dash, from £35.00 | Small Ash & Brass Trug by Jane Crisp Bespoke Designer Maker, from £175.00 | Russian Cushion by Hattie Kerrs Knitwear, from £52.00 | Linen Roller Towel by The Linen Works, from £29.00 | Recycled Pickle Jar Light by Cachette, from £42.31 | Hand-carved Trees by Forge Creative, from £36.00 | Porcelain Hanging Planter by From Victoria, from £24.00 | Autumn Wallpaper by Sian Zeng, from £250.00 | Serving Boards by Forge Creative, from £40.00 each.

The Collector: Snow globes

Vintage cartographer Beth Lennon has a love for all things retro that’s reflected in her collection of snow globes - not that she’s obsessive, she says…

If you’re alone in a room with a snow globe, you have to pick it up. “Oh yeah, you’re not gonna let it sit there,” agrees Beth Lennon. “You have to engage.” When you are a woman with approximately 100 snow globes to your name, that’s quite the commitment.

Of all childhood toys, arguably there is nothing as magnetically compelling as a snow globe. What’s not to captivate? Generally accustomed to following orders every waking minute, there you stand, playing god. You have a) the whole world in your hands, and b) complete control over the weather. (Assuming, of course, you want to let it snow, but at this time of year, why wish for anything else?)

Turn to page 111 of December’s The Simple Things for the full interview with Beth. Buy, download or subscribe now.

Want to build up your own collection? Scour junk shops or flea markets for vintage finds, or try online at eBay or Etsy. Want a contemporary collection? Here’s our selection of the best miniature worlds of fun.

Clockwise from top left:

1. Hang this deer snow globe from your tree. £4, Paperchase.
2. Try your hand at a festive paper cut with a snow globe template. £5.50, Pretty Paper Petal.
3. All is calm... This wintry scene is the perfect table decoration. £15, John Lewis.
4. Happy snowmen adorn these gift tags. £2.59, Charonel Designs.
5. Make your own with this snow globe kit. £24.95, Not on the High Street.
6. Arctic owls take shelter in the forest in this tree decoration. £12, Anthropologie.