5PM Post: When is the “right” time to take down holiday decorations?

Yesterday morning, with great embarrassment, I took down the lights from my front porch.

Why was this such a problem for me? Well, I was raised that one of the New Years Day activities was taking down and packing all the Christmas decorations inside and outside the house. Lights, tree, stockings, inflatable/plastic stuff…all of it.

Of course, this firm family rule was practiced while living next door to the Capawanos, who had a 15-foot wrought iron “NOEL” screwed to the front of their house year-round. (It was their only holiday decoration–odd considering its size and girth, you’d assume it was part of a larger ensemble–and stayed there for the entire 13 years we lived in that neighborhood).

Driving around our fair city at night, I notice that today, January 6th, there are still quite a few decked halls out there.

So what is the appropriate time to dismantle your holiday house flair?

Some might say December 26th. Some might say January 1st. Some may reasonably say tomorrow (the Orthodox observation of Christmas). Others would opt for the first non-miserable weekend day after Christmas. A few outliers might even say MLK Jr Day is the drop dead end date.

What do you think?