![]() We tucked the kids and dogs into the hotel in the early evening and told them we’d go find a restaurant in town and bring dinner back to them. We spent the night in Triberg, and the snow was falling fast and starting to accumulate. Two years ago, in January, we took a trip to the Black Forest. Down the hill we went into snowy Triberg. On the front end of Christmas, Krampus came for bad children around December 6th (Nikolaustag), and now at the holiday’s closing bell, masked demons parade in the streets as the carnival season gets underway. We’ve seen this in Bavaria and the Black Forest, where Christmas season seems to be dipped at both ends with a dollop of menace. Hopefully that imparts luck and not just extra pounds.įrom our experiences in Germany, it’s obvious that Twelfth Night doesn’t just mark an ending of a season– it is also the beginning of the carnival season that leads up to Mardi Gras. We did, however, bake a yule log (a buche de Noel) and gobble up every crumb. The yule log is said to bring luck for the coming year, and, if you’ve kept a fire burning around the clock for the last 12 days and your house is still standing, then I’d say you’re pretty lucky! We didn’t do that at my house. It’s also the night when you finally allow the yule log to die out– that log that you started burning on Christmas Day and kept going until now. Twelfth Night offers a chance to wallow in Christmas traditions for one more night– to eat heartily (and include a King’s Cake on the table) and drink wassail. ![]() But it lends more structure, and a greater sense of traditional festival, to the holiday than our modern sprawl (which is more like the 12 weeks of Christmas, starting before–or at, if we are very lucky– Halloween). (Christmas day until Epiphany, January 6th.) It’s more of an Old World concept. ![]() In the States, we don’t pay much attention to the “12 days” of Christmas. (I’d be tidy and efficient, but kind of a quitter too. Or I could be industrious and take it all down and give up on winter ever coming to Florida. I feel like I should leave my tree up as a sign of solidarity– I can read by its twinkling lights, turn on a fan, and pretend that I’m looking out my window at a foot of snow. Family and friends to my north are expecting freezing weather and snow storms in two days. When the snow finally made its appearance, I snuggled under a blanket with a book and some hot chocolate while the tree lights twinkled. However, this time last year, I decided to keep my tree up another week or two, until my corner of Germany got some snow. This, I think, is a plot hatched by type A neatniks to push type B malingerers into a tidy-up already. It’s considered very bad form, and bad luck, to keep Christmas decorations up any longer than this. Alternatively, take it to your local dump where you can add it to the other green waste or chop it up and stack the wood in your garden to create a habitat for birds and bugs.Tonight marks Twelfth Night– the eve of Epiphany, the end of the 12 days of Christmas. ![]() Also look out for the ‘Grown in Britain’ label or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) ‘seal of approval’, both of which guarantee your tree has been grown to set environmental standards.Īfter Christmas, go to recyclenow to find out about drop-off points in your area, where your old tree will be recycled into chippings for local parks and woodland areas. If you buy a tree, ensure it’s been grown as locally as possible: you can go to .uk or to find out about growers in your area. To find a Christmas tree rental scheme near you and know how to pick the best tree for you, read our Christmas tree rental guide. You decorate and care for the tree during the festive period, then they'll pick it up and replant in January. Love a Christmas tree offers real Nordmann Firs delivered to your door from their Leicestershire family farm from £20. This year you could go one further when it comes to an eco-friendly Christmas tree by renting a real tree from a British farm. That said, seven million real trees will be dumped in January rather than recycled. In fact, one study concluded you'd have to use your fake fir for 20 years for it to be greener. Looking for the most eco-friendly Christmas tree option? Real Christmas trees are much more sustainable than artificial alternatives.
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