When is the right time to take down your Christmas lights in NJ?

Of course, the unofficial answer is, "whenever you feel like it", but is there a good standard date to go by? There are a few and in general, the dates have been extended.

There are plenty of people with all of their Christmas decorations and lights up in my area.
I take mine down New Year's Day or the next day.

Not for any other reason than the weather keeps getting colder and I don't want to be out there when it's 25 degrees or snowing.

Also, every time you pull up to your house it's a reminder of an unpleasant chore you have ahead of you.

But I admire and really appreciate the people who leave them up well past the holiday season. It seems the Christmas lights go up a little earlier and get taken down a little later in the last few years.

It's a trend that started during the pandemic as a way to brighten people's spirits and seems to have stuck around.

A few old benchmarks for a timeline of when the lights go up and come down were up on Thanksgiving weekend and down on January 6th celebrating "The Epiphany".

Things have evolved it seems. We thought the end of January should be the drop dead end date for lights, but no.

According to some, it's ok to leave them up until February 14th, Valentine's Day, the next major commercial holiday following New Year's Day.

Some now are even saying you can go to the end of February. If the bright, colorful lights help get you through the cold dark days of winter, go for it!

You do you, bro. I'll continue to admire them and appreciate the fact that mine are already tucked away.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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