I apologize to my neighbours and friends. I don’t mean to offend. But a full 17 days after Christmas — yes, Jan. 12 — standing in my living room as you read this column, is a fully decorated Christmas tree.
My lights are still on the house. They are up and on. Even I am at a loss as to why I am so slow taking stuff down this year. Maybe I just like the way our house looked this holiday season. Maybe I’m just too lazy to take the Christmas decorations down.
Or maybe, just maybe, I finally had a holiday season where I wasn’t a Grinch for the holidays, waiting until the last minute to put up a tree and lights, and looking for the first chance to take them down.
Is there a "right time" to take down your Christmas stuff?
After all, this year in an effort to get a jump on the season, we put up our Christmas tree and lights the day after Halloween. Pumpkin goes in the box, out comes Santa.
Maybe now it should be "in the box goes Santa and out comes Cupid."
Can we wait until mid February?
Tracy, my wife, thinks we can keep the tree up and just put Valentine’s decorations on it. Could that be followed by eggs on the tree in March, little beavers and maple leafs for summer, and back to school pencils and erasers in fall?
Why not some mini pumpkins in October, then back to Christmas again?
On the Morning Mess radio show on StarFM, we asked out Facebook friends what they thought about a "year round tree" and when it’s a good time to pack up Christmas.
Samantha Meger: Jan. 2 mine came down.
Holly Marisa Woodland: Jan. 6.
Desirae Drost and Lindsey Pringle: Boxing Day
Amber Lobert: Keep it up til Ukrainian New Year
Lindsey Pringle: Now it’s a holiday (Valentine day, Easter, etc) tree?
Amber Lobert: Jan. 7 is Ukrainian Christmas. Maybe New Year’s Jan. 14?
Jody Caslick: Do whatever makes you happy
Lindsey Pringle: When is the Chinese Christmas?
Shannon Blair: I took all the stuff down Boxing Day. We generally put it up in the middle of November, so I’ve had my fair share of it up.
Melissa Slashinsky: Ukrainian New Year, Jan. 14
Cheyenne Callum: Keep it up all year round! Use it for every holiday!
Tara Elliott: Anytime after Ukrainian Christmas.
Lori Bauer Badcock: This year though it was New Year’s Day.
Roberta Dennis-Ferguson: I feel they needed to keep them up till after the 7th due to Ukrainian Christmas
Meaghan Coey: After Ukrainian New Years, Jan. 14.
Dean Clarke: New Year’s Day!
Wanda Smith: We took our decorations down on Dec. 27, but the Christmas lights are still on.
Brandi Fuglsang Falk: Depends if you have a fake or real tree. We had a real tree since Dec. 9, so it came down on the 4th to avoid a fire.
Carol Roulette: Last year it was on Boxing Day, but every year is a different day!
Natasha Marshall: I keep mine up until New Years, and then it’s gone. Unless I’m lazy
Jamie Willis: Twelfth night — Jan. 5 then down in haste!
I did a little research and found that true to following Christian tradition, the Christmas tree would be put up and decorated on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, and stay up until Jan. 6, the day of Epiphany. Epiphany is a feast day that celebrates God the son, as the human Jesus Christ.
However, it seems most people put their Christmas trees up day after Remembrance Day and usually take them down the week after New Year’s Day. (The Rockefeller Christmas Tree in New York came down on Monday.)
In the end, we’ll probably think of taking things down after Ukrainian New Year’s. After all, my wife is Ukrainian, and I’m half, and being a democracy in our house, that’s 75 per cent of the vote for Ukrainian New Year’s Day Jan. 14.
Speaking of Ukrainian — every year, Metro continues to be one of the most requested songs of the Christmas season. His 11 days from Christmas has become a classic, following in the footsteps of Jeff Foxworthy’s "Redneck 12 days of Christmas" and Bob and Doug’s "12 days" (and a beer in the tree for me).
However, when I went online to find the lyrics for Metro’s 12 days, I found them nowhere. An hour I searched and to no avail.
So I played the song 15 times to physically write down the items for you. So my Ukrainian Christmas gift to you is the 11 days in point form so you can sing with your friends as you welcome in the Ukrainian New Year.
And I’ll go look for some boxes to put these decorations in.
"11 Days From Christmas" — by Metro
11 pails of borscht (beet soup)
10 pounds chesnok (that’s garlic)
9 months pregnant
8 all my supper
7 4x2 slabs (to build a chicken coop.)
6 Overalls
5 GOLDEN RINGS OF KOLBASSA (Garlic sausage,the best kind)
4 holubtsi (cabbage rolls. Although four dozen is better than just four)
3 Rubber boots. (Who needs three? Shouldn’t two be enough?)
2 Petahe (perogies. Although two dozen is more like it!)
And a bowl of sour cream for ME!
JOKE THIS WEEK
A lawyer and a Ukrainian are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is thinking that Ukrainians are simple, so the lawyer asks if the Ukrainian would like to play a fun game.
The Ukrainian is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists, and says that the game is a lot of fun.
"I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me only $5; you ask me one, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500," he says.
This catches the Ukrainian’s attention and to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game.
The lawyer asks the first question.
"What’s the distance from The Earth to the Moon?"
The Ukrainian doesn’t say a word, reaches in his pocket pulls out a $5 bill, and hands it to the lawyer.
Now, it’s the Ukrainian’s turn. He asks the lawyer,
"What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?"
The lawyer uses his laptop and searches all references he could find on the Net. He sends emails to all the smart friends he knows, all to no avail.
After one hour of searching he finally gives up. He wakes up the Ukrainian and hands him $500. The Ukrainian pockets the $500 and goes right back to sleep.
The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer. He wakes the Ukrainian up and asks,
"Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?"
The Ukrainian reaches in his pocket, hands the lawyer $5 and goes back to sleep.
Don’t mess with a Ukrainian.
BIRTHDAYS
Abigayle Hapa
Jean Warwaruk
Trevor Hurst
Joni Dmura
Cheryl Fleming
Monica Grift
Mary-Anne Kostur
Nicki Podworny
Brandi Fuglsang
Andrea Robinson
Nicole Raenn Demas
Jennifer Kelly
Nicole Hoyak
Al Krantz
Anastacia Bagayoko Adair
Leann McKay
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition January 12, 2013
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