Sunday, January 06, 2008

The Worst Part of January

I insist on getting a live Christmas tree every year not because I am fond of vacuuming up the dead needles, but because I am really fond of the pine needle scent that comes out of the vacuum the rest of the year. I love smelling pine/fir/spruce instead of dog dander.

Now I've taken down all the Christmas decorations, except for the barren and dying tree. Out of principle, I leave the decorations up until January 6th...the 12 days of Christmas and all that. Also, I just love the greenery and little white lights and Santas around the house and hate to take them all down. But, mostly I don't take my decorations down until the last possible second before the tree implodes in a flurry of dead needles because I can't figure out how we are supposed to dispose of the damn tree.

In Alaska, we just dragged our dead tree out the front door and dumped it in the woods on our property. Well, John dragged it and dumped it. I offered helpful suggestions from the front door..."A little further! The snow isn't that deep! Keep going!" Then, we spent the rest of the year looking out our living room window and seeing the dead brown tree on its side laying in the woods and saying to each other, "We really should go out there and drag it further off into the woods." But, we never did. We'd even invite our friends over and as they were surveying the yard, we would proudly say, "And, over there is last year's Christmas tree. See it? It is the dead brown pile right there off the deck, right past the mosquito magnet..."

Now that we live in a suburb with, like, rules and shit, I can't figure out how to get the damn thing out of my house! We brought it to the house inside the Explorer. It was all fresh and non-shedding and neatly wrapped in netting. Now that it has dryed out and crumbled, I really don't want to jam that thing inside my car. John mentioned sneaking it out in the middle of the night and dragging it down the sidewalk to the little creek at the bottom of the hill and abandoning it there. But, the neighborhood watch groups and the Home Owner's Association would likely see us and send us another nasty-gram in our mailbox. So, I guess we have to tie it to the roof of our car and drive it somewhere official. And I'm fresh out of bungee cords.

9 comments:

Tracy said...

Renee and my neighbor put it out with the trash and they picked it up. Worth a try right?

justme said...

ok, when did you live in alaska ???

MaryB said...

Do they not have a disposal/mulching service for Christmas trees? Most places I've lived have curbside pick-up by the local sanitation service.

I'm so jealous that all your decorations are packed away. I can't seem to find the time.

Jen said...

"Helpful suggestions". Love it.

No treecycle there? We left ours in the backyard last year until like June, when I finally convinced Tim to chop it up and put it in the dumpster. We missed the free recycling due to my procrastination last year (and maybe the birth of a baby). Not so this year. Don't miss the deadline, if you find a place that will take it!

Katie said...

I need to find out if the local recycling people have a tree day. They won't take ANY lawn waste curbside here (unless you PAY for the lawn waste service, we we do NOT because we do not like to do yard work), but I wonder if they do have a designated free Christmas tree pick-up day.

Anonymous said...

... and also Mr. Bevo, proud owner of a tree farm, says that trees are a renewable resource. He'd probably have a heart attack if you brought home a FAKE tree!

Andrea and Ben said...

We have always burned ours. It is supposed to be good luck to burn it after the new year. Do you have a fireplace - know anyone that does? I am chopping ours up and letting it dry out back. Teh needles will be kindling.

Anonymous said...

In our area, a couple of non-profit groups (Boy Scouts, for one) offer tree-pick-up services as a fund raiser: they show up with a truck, you give them $10, they take away the tree, you brush off your hands briskly.

Anonymous said...

Our city has a recycling service. I would call the city and see if your garbage people could take it for you...