I knew a guy who had a complete Santa, sleigh, and reindeer setup on the roof of his house. He was too lazy to take it down so he just left it up there year-round. I haven't been by there in 7 years, but I'll bet it's still up there, slowly rotting away.
If anyone here lives in Richton Park, IL, you probably know who I'm talking about.

Shiatter was full!

In this town there's at least one house where the decorations stay up year-round (only lit up at Christmas time though).

I remember a family when I lived in Brewster, NY, where the mom had cancer and went to the hospital over Christmas. The family left the Christmas lights up so mom could see them when she came home.

She died in the hospital, so they left the lights and the decorations up -- for YEARS. Absolutely no closure in that family.

They finally moved away, and the whole house got repainted with a lot of woodwork redone on the trim from the rot under the wreaths and lights and stuff. Sad.

We just took down the tree decorations on Friday, and still have the now sadly bare tree standing in the living room.

All the outside decorations, though, were gone after New Years.

If I ever took the time to put 10,000 lights all over my house you bet your ass I'd leave them up year-round.

I think the lights are pretty. I especially like when people wind the lights all around the branches of a tree --- I see no reason why people wouldn't want that year-round.

Santa and deer and stuff, not so much, but the lights?

That's how I light my house. I have different colors in each room.

A neighbor here has several "convertible lens" display light strings going year-round. The year begins with valentine hearts, then shamrocks, then easter eggs, then flags from Memorial Day until Labor Day, then pumkins, then turkeys until finally it's candy canes, then valentine hearts ....

/ at least they don't annoyingly "marquis flash" anymore

Well if you put that shiat up a month in advance, why can't you leave it up a month later? It's not like there's any special decorating even that comes soon after Christmas.

Its not news, its Fark.com.


Actually, if I light my house with LED xmas lights, would it be cheaper than using regular bulbs? This guy may be on to something.

I don't care if disco is over, the mirror ball stays on the roof!

I still have my Christmas tree up in my apartment. It's a tiny, Chuck Brown-esque tree, but I still like to light it up at night. It looks nice and gives the apartment more atmosphere. I'll take it down close to January's end, though, as there's a point where it goes from looking nice to depressing. I would assume the same for outdoor lights and decorations.

If you don't take your holiday decorations down before the 4th of July, you don't have to.

serpent_sky:
That's how I light my house. I have different colors in each room.

Pics?

DarthBrooks: I remember a family when I lived in Brewster, NY, where the mom had cancer and went to the hospital over Christmas. The family left the Christmas lights up so mom could see them when she came home.

She died in the hospital, so they left the lights and the decorations up -- for YEARS. Absolutely no closure in that family.

They finally moved away, and the whole house got repainted with a lot of woodwork redone on the trim from the rot under the wreaths and lights and stuff. Sad.

I call bullsh*t. My family was notoriously lazy and we left our lights up all year round (we just didn't turn them on). There was no friggin rot.

One of my neighbors still has freakin' pumpkins out.

RoxtarRyan: Its not news, its Fark.com.


Actually, if I light my house with LED xmas lights, would it be cheaper than using regular bulbs? This guy may be on to something.

hah... i had a roommate in college that did that in his room. just ran them all over the ceiling. it was the coolest lighting, very soft and great for a bedroom.

UberSmyth

LOL...same here. My little 4-foot fake tree is still up in the corner. I keep it plugged in with the lights going because it warms up the place.

I want to add: our house was three stories at the top and it was incredibly pain-in-the-ass to get them up there.

/Still, my parents were lazy.
//They were up for four years or so.
///After that we had a new rule: up on Thanks giving break, down by New Year's
////Us kids had to put them up because my parents couldn't adhere to their own rule

Christmas season ends on Jan 6 (12 days after Christmas).

/leaves lights and tree up that long
//Jan 6 they all come down

jjorsett: One of my neighbors still has freakin' pumpkins out.

I visited a family last week that had two rotten jack-o-lantern blobs on their porch.

The year I got divorced, I left the tree up until St. Patrick's Day, at which time my friends and I had a drunken bash and threw it onto the lawn, lights and all.

/Hey, we needed room for a keg.

//Good times.

//Twenty years ago, but good times.

A few years back, I got a pretty nasty note calling me white trash and informing me that what was acceptable in the trailer park is not acceptable in this neighborhood because I did not take down my lights by the end of January.

These people did not realize that I was driving about four hours a day to be with my dying father. At that time I could not give two shiats about Christmas lights.

Just because some anonymous prick pissed me off, my lights have been up for four plus years now.

/off my lawn
//if you don't like my lights, don't look at 'em
///just for that, they'll be lit up another two weeks

Royal Oak, Michigan features 2 next-door neighbors who leave their stuff up year round (I'm sure a few Farkers know which houses I'm referring to). We're talking faded 9 foot Santas, a full size sleigh with eight tiny (mismatched) reindeer, saggy inflatables, drooping lights, and a huge, faded wooden sign that says "Noel" on the roof of one of them. It's a depressing, fricking eyesore that drags down the property values of everyone within range, but to point that out gets you shouted down as a "Scrooge." Even if you're pointing it out in July.

sparticle: The year I got divorced, I left the tree up until St. Patrick's Day, at which time my friends and I had a drunken bash and threw it onto the lawn, lights and all.

/Hey, we needed room for a keg.

//Good times.

//Twenty years ago, but good times.


You just reminded me of a friend that divorced years ago. He & his wife parted ways at Christmas. He still had the (artificial) tree up, decorated and lit in August.

RudyRay: These people who leave the lights up year-round, do they actually plug them in year round too?

No, that would be tacky.

swahnhennessy: If I ever took the time to put 10,000 lights all over my house you bet your ass I'd leave them up year-round.

Haha I beat you. My house had 11,400 and that was just the outside. As the youngest i had to help take them down.

_{We intend to have 15000 next year.}

I still have my tree up. Not dry enough to take it down, since I cut it fresh. I just want to enjoy it, until it has to go out.

Then it sits in the ditch until spring, and gets tossed into the fire pit.

Lights, all white on the house eve's have stayed up most of the last 5-6 years. You don't notice them unless you look. But giving that they are 18-34' off the ground, I'm not trying to make more work for myself.

But since I have all new soffit's on the house, they are going to come down every year now. In spring, when I can get up there with a ladder (32ft extension)

I was noticing that fewer and fewer houses seemed to have any outdoor decorations this year.. but on the other hand, I still saw many houses with lights on last Tuesday, while driving to a monthly computer club meeting.

Mine are up still, although they're not lit. I'll take them down when the snow is off the roof. Thanks, I prefer not to go on my ass because my neighbors think it's time for them to go.

Course, my next door neighbor had lights on the trees in his tree lawn, and he left them up year round. The city trimmed those trees last year and slashed his lights up but good!

I'm getting a kick from these responses.....
/Al Bundy: You leave the lights up all year and when you need them they don't work.

My wife's Russian, and apparently their traditional new year is on the 13th, so we're not taking the "Novi God" tree down until tomorrow.

They're lazy. And they've just printed several hundred more Jesus Cards to play on someone who says so.

AngryTeacher: A few years back, I got a pretty nasty note calling me white trash and informing me that what was acceptable in the trailer park is not acceptable in this neighborhood because I did not take down my lights by the end of January.

These people did not realize that I was driving about four hours a day to be with my dying father. At that time I could not give two shiats about Christmas lights.


That's quite sad. I hope they were ashamed of themselves.

Barricaded Gunman: It's a depressing, fricking eyesore that drags down the property values of everyone within range...

Many people like this have weedy lawns, cars on blocks, and dirty sheets for curtains, so I'm not sure taking down the Xmas stuff would help a lot. In fact, it might be useful for covering up how bad their houses actually look.

Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on January 7th. It's been less than a week. People need to calm down.

There is an old woman that lives down the road, and on the trees and fences in front of her house there are always hand written signs saying things like "you are all divels"(actual spelling), "jesus lord jesus", things about how white people are evil, and one that i'm pretty sure said something about uncle tom. There is also a very large wooden sign in the driveway with a picture of (white) jesus with a candle and foil decorations. She drives down the road at 20mph with what i'm fairly sure are black plastic bags covering some of the windows.

I live in the middle of nowhere.

AngryTeacher: A few years back, I got a pretty nasty note calling me white trash and informing me that what was acceptable in the trailer park is not acceptable in this neighborhood because I did not take down my lights by the end of January...

Our small town newspaper has a column called Town Talk where anonymous callers leave nasty comments about their neighbors. Winnebagos parked in the front yard, too many yard decorations, lawns that need reseeding, lights left up too long...it's biatchy and rude, and everyone knows who the target is, because it's a small town.

...Just because some anonymous prick pissed me off, my lights have been up for four plus years now.

GOOD FOR YOU! Every time I read one of those anonymous piss'n'moan rants, it makes me want to do the exact same thing to my yard. Douchebags need real problems, methinks.

I have to admit my (fake) tree is still up - stupid thing is 11 feet tall and it takes hours to remove the ornaments and break down the tree. Maybe next weekend I can conscript the teenagers to help.

THIS JUST IN!

There is absolutely nothing going on in Norfolk, VA.

AngryTeacher: Just because some anonymous prick pissed me off, my lights have been up for four plus years now.

Classy.

From the wikipedia:

"St. Knut's Day was a holiday celebrated in Sweden and Finland on January 13 (and not in Denmark although King Knut's origin could suggest it). King Knut, or more commonly, Canute IV of Denmark, who ruled Denmark from 1080 - 1086 and who claimed the throne of England, is honoured as a saint for his virtue and generosity. He declared that Christmas should be celebrated for twenty days, officially ending the season on 13 January. The days between Christmas and Saint Knut's Day are filled with celebrations. Christmas trees are taken down on St. Knut's Day, and the candies and cookies that decorated the tree are eaten."

This guy must've gotten 12 lords a leapin' and just wanted more.

I've always wanted to put up decorations that were one holiday behind. So Halloween decorations at Christmas, Christmas decorations at Easter, etc. My neighbours would loooove me.

I'd griswold that asian biatch in that ad on that page (which rotates)

Was looking for a screenshot from the episode where divorced Bill was so happy with doing Santa for Christmas- and renting a Christmas moon bounce for his front lawn and generally making a Christmas theme park out of his house- that he keeps doing it months later. As his Santa suit becomes dirty and ragged it becomes downright disturbing.

Couldn't find the pic though.

leave them up if you want, but don't turn them on.

serpent_sky: I think the lights are pretty. I especially like when people wind the lights all around the branches of a tree --- I see no reason why people wouldn't want that year-round.

Santa and deer and stuff, not so much, but the lights?

That's how I light my house. I have different colors in each room.

That was a big thing when I lived in Texas. The regular white lights, around normal (IOW, other than pine) trees to me looked really nice.

I may do that in the next Casa Teleken; I'm getting ready to move again and moving is cheaper than the present $250 a month I spend on gas.

I didn't decorate the yard much this year (partly because the farking landscaper hasn't been back to complete said yard - project's been dragging on since August).

Other than that, I just threw a few strings of lights along the roofline and called it good. Then a bigass storm blew through and took them down for me.

/cheap gutter clips

Technically Christmas ends Jan. 6th. (according to the 12 days of Christmas song) In the Catholic church, it officially ends today, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. I still took my decorations down a couple of weeks ago though.

I've got no problem with it. Then again, my family always keeps stuff up until at least Twelfth Night.