One mum packs up Christmas on December 25. How soon is too soon to clean up Christmas?

The presents have been given, the fridge is filled with enough leftovers to feed an army, and you're either gearing up to hit the sales or perching yourself in front of the TV for the cricket.

And there it is, sitting in the corner, just waiting to be packed up - the Christmas tree.

But how soon is too soon to put it away? And how late can you put it off before it becomes socially unacceptable?

A mum in the United Kingdom made news this month when she revealed on TikTok that at 7pm every December 25, she takes down the Christmas decorations.

Now, my first thought was that she must dislike Christmas at the same rate as the Grinch (before his heart grows three sizes in a day). And my second was questioning how she has the energy to take down the tree after the most full-on day of the year. How is she not lying on the couch stuffed with turkey and Christmas pudding? Or falling asleep while watching a Christmas film? Where is this energy coming from? And how can I get some?

Of course, a viral story is never as black and white as the comments in the post lead you to believe.

MUST READS:

Georgia Schofield, the mum of two who went viral on TikTok, released a video explaining that it wasn't a lack of Christmas, or even an internal need for the house to be "back to normal" by December 26. Rather it was all because of her daughter, whose birthday is December 26.

And as someone who puts up the tree in November, and tends to take it down after Australia Day (granted, more out of laziness than anything else), if there was ever a reason to take down the Christmas tree the day of, this would be it.

Because as someone who also supports birthday week (or even a birthday month), it must suck being born that close to Christmas.

I remember growing up, a friend's family always put up the Christmas tree on December 22 because his birthday was December 21. And to be honest, if my mum wasn't Christmas in human form, I'm sure we would do the same for her December 29 birthday.

Which brings me to the other of the spectrum - how late is too late?

I acknowledge that my post-January 26 date is too late. I know this. But also, I'm the only one who has to live with it. I'm also the only one who has to put it away, so maybe that's more to the point (Putting the Christmas tree up is much more fun than taking it down).

Maybe I should do the same thing as a friend of mine - keep it up all year and just change the decorations every month. January can be Australia Day, February is Valentine's Day, and March surely has to be a tree covered in hot air balloons for Canberra Day and the Balloon Spectacular. After Easter, it gets a bit iffy theme-wise, but I could work something out.

Either way, just like there are so many different ways of celebrating Christmas, there are so many different ways of dismantling it. So to the naysayers, back in your box.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.