Christmas in January. Reluctant to take off the decorations? You are not alone.

‘It was 21 nights after Christmas, when it was through the house

Not a single ribbon was disturbed by humans or mice

The socks were carefully hung on the chimney,

Even though Saint Nicholas was already there.

In homes across New Jersey, Christmas decorations remain until January. With Valentine’s Day a month gone by, locals say they are in no hurry to pick up their trees, lights and household exhibits.

Some say that the timing is equal to the course, given their lasting love for the holidays. Others suspect their reluctance may have something to do with the COVID-19 pandemic coming to an end in 2020.

Linda Albelli decorated every nook and cranny in her Victorian home in Closter from Black Friday, using the souvenirs she has collected over 40 years.

She has three Christmas trees – one large and two small.

“It’s not brilliant,” says Albelli. ‘I love it.’

Among friends and family, she is known for her ‘Christmas addiction’.

“I’m already planning for next year,” Albelli, 66, told NJ Advance Media.

But three weeks after December 25, every bit of her holiday decorations – from the stocking by her fireplace to the trinkets and pinecones in the dining room, gingerbread men in the kitchen and ribbons on the cupboards – are still there.

When will she start dismantling her yuletide decor?

“Maybe at the end of January,” she says. “Definitely after the inauguration.”

In fact, Albelli turned off her Christmas countdown calendar with a countdown to January 20 – Inauguration Day.

For Albelli, the timing is not so far removed from her usual takedown day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 18). In one way, the pandemic did not affect her routine. But in another, it completely changed the tradition.

Since COVID-19 meant she would not be able to see loved ones at her home, Albelli considered not decorating much this year. When she sent the idea to Don, her 41-year-old husband, the first reaction, a volunteer from the rescue team, quickly discouraged her with visions of Christmas trees dancing in his eyes.

“He’s the master of the lights on the tree and on the outside,” says Albelli, always loving to go and pick a living tree. Eventually, she spent a considerable amount of time and attention on her vacation setup.

“I think I probably did more than I usually do, and I’m not in a hurry to take it down,” she says.

After all, she says, the tree still drinks ‘water’. And every day she can wake up to see how it stands there and evoke joy and peace.

“It’s just constructive,” Albelli says. A year and a half ago, she was fired from her job as an editorial coordinator at a college textbook publisher. Now she serves a waitress a few days a week at the same lunch she was 15.

Every Christmas decoration and reminder is not just a trinket or accessory, she says – it is a reminder. As she stores them outside every year, she picks up the memories one by one.

” A small piece of them is still with me, ” Albelli said of the people who gave it to her, whether they’re dead now or she just cannot see because of the pandemic. Gifts from her daughters from an early age, and those moments in time, come alive again, even if only for a month and a half.

“It just warms my heart,” she says.

Jonathan Caspi, a therapist and professor of family science and human development at Montclair State University, says he can see candlelight as one answer to “the feeling that there is not much to look forward to.”

The pandemic caused such an open sense of insecurity. Why not fill it with a few extra weeks of holiday cheer?

“There are always people who leave them for quite some time,” says Caspi. “I could see people this year who want to cling more to beautiful things.”

Even if decorations can serve as a safety blanket in a turbulent year, he advises people to come on the same page with family members or people in their household if they plan to leave it behind for a while after the holidays. And he raises the question of how long it is too long.

“Maybe they take something outside all the time,” Caspi says, making it somehow less special. He suggests driving away some of the blues after the holidays by planning social gatherings with friends or making a turn for the change of scenery.

“We do not necessarily have to fall into the trap of ‘Oh, we have nothing to look forward to,'” Caspi says.

Jeremy Eisengrein, a communications professional living in Spring Lake, sees a definite rest of Christmas in his townhouse community. Eisengrein, in turn, left a small “agnostic” wreath on his front door.

“To be honest, I like it. I do not see why we can not have the whole of January holiday, ”he says.

Eisengrein, 27, recently moved from Hoboken to Monmouth County, following a trend of people leaving their New York neighborhoods after the pandemic overcame the city shuttle.

While he thinks the prolonged holiday interval is something of an escape from the sometimes unforgiving reality of early 2021, he knows it could irritate people.

“I could see it bothering some neighbors,” he says.

Ornaments hang from the ceiling in Lisa Pasechnick’s Hillsdale lounge. A small Christmas tree is flanked by two Santa Clauses. Above, strings of rainbow lights are at the top of the front windows, as illuminated snowflakes glow in icy white.

“It’s not about being lazy,” she says. “I like that.”

Pasechnick says her sister-in-law sent her husband, Mark, an SMS to ask when they were going to turn off their lights.

“He never said,” she says.

The post-Christmas decoration was a bright spot in a dark time for the family.

Pasechnick, 59, visited her 95-year-old mother in rehab after suffering a stroke and breaking her ankles on New Year’s Eve.

Seeing the warm glow of colored lights in the dogwood outside is like a balm.

“I need it now,” she says of her holiday cheer. “I’m not taking them down.”

Pasechnick works as a chef and brand ambassador at Bloomingdale, but loses her job to the pandemic. After developing COVID-19 symptoms, her family contracted the coronavirus. And then there is the state of the land.

“We are not really in peaceful times,” Pasechnick said. “And I do not care what my neighbors think.”

She has two Christmas trees – a cat-friendly optical fiber optic in the house and a vibrant one on the porch. It’s not going anywhere. In fact, Pasechnick puts hearts into it for Valentine’s Day.

“One year I hung Easter eggs in it,” she says.

Scott Churchson and his wife also still roll with their tree and lights in Lodi. Usually the decorations are gone a few days after the new year.

“Because COVID is the way it is and the kind of things a lot of people have been through, you need everything to give psychological escape,” he says. “It was such a strange Christmas that it felt in a bizarre way like we did not have it.”

Then there is 2021 – the riot and fall of the Capitol.

“How naive we were not to say ‘Out with 2020!’ ‘, Says Churchson (45), who works in radio and TV.

He’s a big fan of what his Christmas season looks like, but is not so keen on putting it together or taking it down.

“Theoretically, we’ll get to that this weekend,” he says.

After all, Churchson says it’s only 49 weeks until Christmas.

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Amy Kuperinsky can be reached at [email protected] and result at @AmyKup on Twitter.