When should you take your Christmas decorations down?

It's the calm after the storm. Santa has been and gone, all the gifts have been unwrapped - and the Christmas chocolate is long gone. There is probably plenty of festive food still left over, though, as it seems to last forever. Turkey sandwiches for the next two weeks, anyone?

Christmas and Boxing Day are officially done for another year. But we still have one more bank holiday to look forward to; New Year's Day on Monday January 1.

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Before you know it, it will be time to start thinking about getting the kids back to school and returning to work. But with most children not returning to school until next week, it can be tricky to know when exactly you should take your decorations down.

It can be tempting to try and drag out the festive spirit for as long as possible - but when should you call it a day? Of course, it's up to you to choose when to take down your decorations - and it often isn't a small feat. This is when you should pack away the tree and tinsel, according to tradition.

Most Christians take down their decorations on the Twelfth Night, which is the twelfth day after Christmas. It signals the end of the festive season and it's believed by many to be bad luck to keep decorations up after this date. The Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve, falls on Friday, January 5.

However, Catholics traditionally wait until January 6 to take their trees down, as that is the day after Epiphany. The Epiphany is a feast day which celebrates the revelation of God incarnating as Jesus Christ.

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