No, this isn’t my house! – Christmas Lights by Anthony92931 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I posed the question on social media. And of course I got a variety of smart-ass answers. Travelling man Donnie Boudreaux commented, “Until Labor Day, no white after then.”

And according to Robert van Buskirk of Chicago, “You could start an Italian restaurant and never take them down.”

Surprisingly I received a number of responses urging me to just leave them up. Chastity Hope Fontenot of Lake Charles says “365!”

“I kept lights up year round in New Orleans and loved it,” commented Victoria Baker Flores of Lafayette. “Always made me smile.”

Likewise, Roxanne LeGros Lasage of Jennings added, “I’ve seen white lights used throughout the entire year! I think they add cheer.”

And Ona Carson of Baton Rouge urged, “All year!”

But there is indeed traditional convention for the removal of Christmas lights. “They say it’s bad news to leave Christmas decorations up past Twelfth Night,” suggested Charlotte Donald Pevny of College Station, my date for Senior Prom. “But I don’t think white lights count, right?”

Twelfth Night denotes in most branches of Christianity the coming of the Epiphany, which in the southern states is considered to be January 6^th, thus concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas and beginning the Mardi Gras season.

My awning from the driveway

According to some research I found that it is indeed considered unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night; and obviously I have already missed the Twelfth Night deadline.  Though some evidence supports leaving decorations up until Candlemas (February 2^nd) which marks the date when Jesus was presented at Temple.

“You can just add a little purple, gold, and green,” Charlotte concluded. “And Voila! The Mardi Gras season has started!”

At one point I did consider buying some purple, gold, and green glass stain at Texas Art Supply into which to dip the tiny bulbs. Unfortunately color would ruin the fresh winter white. But most importantly, Houstonians do not celebrate Mardi Gras!  I’d look like some kind of crazy Cajun… shut up.

Artist and the owner of Ultima Pool Service Jimmy Warner of Houston stated, “I would say through the winter as long as it is cold, but not past March 1^st no matter the temperature.”

I like that idea the best!

Bengt Lindell, editor of the Welsh Citizen, broadened the scope of the period with simply, “Seersucker on—lights down.”

Trouble is, I live in a hoytie toytie neighborhood and I do not want to be that guy on the street with Christmas lights up past the season. Tammy Holloway Spell suggested, “If it makes you happy then leave them up, my friend!” It would also make me happy for neighbors not to sneer down their noses at me for breaking with social expectations.

A former design client Faye Lucas did not address the issue of Christmas lights but rather on the conversation in general quipping, “Troy, you have very clever friends!”