Taking Christmas down in the first week of January can leave a room feeling bare, right when it’s coldest and darkest outside. You don’t have to go straight from full Christmas to nothing. Take down what’s clearly Christmas, keep what’s just winter, and the apartment stays cozy until March.

What comes down

  • Anything red and green together
  • Stockings, Santas, reindeer, nutcrackers
  • Ornaments and the tree, if you had one
  • Christmas-print pillows and towels
  • Anything with “merry” or “noel” written on it

Pack ornaments into a divided box (on Amazon) so they’re not broken next year, and wreaths into a wreath bag (on Amazon).

What can stay

White lights. Warm white string lights along a window or shelf aren’t really Christmas decorations. They’re for dark evenings, and January has plenty of those. Leave them up.

Plain greenery. A cedar or pine garland without ornaments or red berries looks like winter, not Christmas. Same for a plain green wreath on the door. Most people keep these until the end of January or later.

Candles. Put candles (on Amazon) on the coffee table, the mantel, the windowsill. In January you want more light, not less.

What to add

Branches. A tall vase with bare branches, or lit branches (on Amazon), takes the spot where a tree was and keeps the room from looking empty.

Heavier fabrics. Swap any holiday pillow covers for textured plain ones (on Amazon): corduroy, wool, boucle, in cream, grey or deep green. Put a chunky knit throw (on Amazon) on the sofa if there isn’t one already.

Something white. A bowl of white candles, a vase of white tulips or paperwhites, a sheepskin over a chair. White things in winter feel like snow without being snowflakes.

Something green and alive. A potted rosemary, a fern, an amaryllis bulb. Live plants help a lot in the gray months.

When to take the rest down

Whenever it starts to feel tired. For most people, the garland and wreath go around the end of January, and the lights stay as long as you like them. There’s no rule.

Why bother

Christmas takes a lot of space for a few weeks. Taking it down in one go and returning to an empty room in the coldest month is a bit bleak. Keeping the winter parts makes the switch gentler, and it’s easier on your back too, since you’re packing up in two smaller rounds instead of one big one.