How Long Do You Leave Your Tree Up?

For us it's usually until January 1st.

I try and get the most out of all my decorating efforts by starting early (December 1st) and keeping them up as long as I can get away with it.

I also keep turning on the Christmas lights as well - I think the colourful beauty helps to stave off the anti-climactic "boxing day blues". Then by the beginning of January, I'm ready to pack it all up and start fresh with a new year.

What's your Christmas tree tradition?
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Another Christmas Decorating Idea

I love this idea: save your kids' school Christmas art crafts and use them as decorations every year. What a great way to boost your child's self esteem while making your home festive :-)

I got this idea from an article by Michelle Jones at www.betterbudgeting.com. She has a lot of great tips on how to save money at Christmas.
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Easy Christmas Decorating Idea

Here's an easy Christmas decorating idea for inside the house. I've thought about doing this before but never tried it until today, and I'm glad I did - it looks fabulous!!

I selected festive wrapping paper and bows to match our decor, and wrapped some of the pictures that are on the wall so that they look like gifts.

You don't have to wrap the back, obviously, and it's a nice touch if all the paper and bows on all the pictures match.

Voila! You now have presents hanging on the wall. It's an easy and inexpensive way to create a dynamic holiday look.

TIP - don't wrap larger pictures unless you have large bows - I tried this myself and the effect is not as appealing.