Our Christmas Tree is officially gone.

[liveintheville]

So we FINALLY hauled it out to the curb Sunday. Public Works swung by and mulched it today. 
There were people walking by it on Sunday giving it double takes. I guess we really were the last people to give it up.

[pinkroses]

Did it still have needles?

I saw one in my neighborhood this week and gave it a little side eye.  Mostly because my town stops picking up after like the second week of January.  I have a feeling this one isn't going anywhere.

[liveintheville]

So Dave literally quit watering it on Christmas Day thinking all the needles would fall off and I'd be forced to agree to throw it out. The damn thing petrified. The needles were still on the tree and felt like they were made of steel. 

Oh and Tony, of course, is the person who took the initiative to undecorate it. That's when we realized it was petrified. We couldn't unwind the lights from the damned thing.

And final confession. We bought it on Dec 7th. 

[rikki]

Ours has been out of J's house since the first week of January but has been sitting on the back porch ever since. They don't have garbage service so we have to drive it somewhere Monday-Friday which is hard with his schedule. I am clueless when it comes to trees, so the whole thing has been a learning experience for me.

[liveintheville]

And let's just say that I was operating based off of prior experiences and knew Somerville continues to do tree pickup throughout February.

[drloretta]

LOL!

We didn't get ours until 12/14, and the only reason we finally took it down when we did was that we had to catch the last January recycling run in our town.

We stopped watering it a little after New Years and it still barely dropped any needles. Which means I've officially converted DH to getting real trees every year.

[5kcandlesinthewind]

People in our neighborhood are STILL lighting up their outdoor Christmas lights. It reminds me of a bit they did on Dee Snider's radio show a million years ago when the intern walked around neighborhoods and knocked on people's doors who still had their Christmas lights up in February or March. I kind of want to knock on their doors and ask WTF.

[mswax]

My kids would be jealous! DS1 told me this weekend that he misses our Christmas tree.

[MixedBerryJam]

I thought I was bad that I only put my wreath this week. I'm amazed your town is still picking up trees. Did you have to call to make arrangements?

That said, years ago a friend of my son's came over for the first time and commented that he always wondered who lived in the house with the Christmas decorations up year round (I have columns in front of the house that I keep wound with red and green ribbon like candy canes and I have lights on my inside bannister year round). So I shall not cast aspersions on anyone's tree decisions.

[drloretta]

It seems to be a "thing" this year especially to keep a lot of Christmas stuff up outside still. DD is still pointing out every time she sees Christmas decorations.

I'm actually a little concerned about my neighbor down the road. He does Christmas-palooza in his front yard, but takes it all down in early Jan to get ready for Easter-palooza (and you should see his Halloween setup). All of his Christmas stuff is still up (just not lit at night) and I'm tempted to drop by and ask if he's OK and needs some help taking stuff down.

[5kcandlesinthewind]

Feb 5, 2013 15:34:59 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

My neighbors keep the candles in their windows lit through freaking April or so. I don't get it.

This is the first year our asshole landlords haven't kept the (GIGANTIC) Christmas wreath up through at least Easter. And that's because it disappeared before Christmas; I suspect one of the degenerates buying lottery tickets and cigarettes at the convenience store across the street decided to help themselves.

I was not sad to see it go. That effing thing smacked us in the face every time we walked in the front door. They never had to deal with it, because they use the front door like once every 6 weeks, whereas we pretty much use that entrance exclusively.

[vtdiamond]

Wow that is impressive that it lasted so long. Do the boys miss it?

[liveintheville]

Feb 5, 2013 15:21:24 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

I thought I was bad that I only put my wreath this week. I'm amazed your town is still picking up trees. Did you have to call to make arrangements?

That said, years ago a friend of my son's came over for the first time and commented that he always wondered who lived in the house with the Christmas decorations up year round (I have columns in front of the house that I keep wound with red and green ribbon like candy canes and I have lights on my inside bannister year round). So I shall not cast aspersions on anyone's tree decisions.

Shockingly I didn't have to call. I was going to give it until Thursday, trash day, and then 311 it if necessary.

[liveintheville]

Feb 5, 2013 15:49:36 GMT -5 vtdiamond said:

Wow that is impressive that it lasted so long. Do the boys miss it?

Nah. They've moved onto Valentines day. 

How's the wedding shopping going?

[vtdiamond]

Feb 5, 2013 16:06:40 GMT -5 liveintheville said:

Feb 5, 2013 15:49:36 GMT -5 vtdiamond said:

Wow that is impressive that it lasted so long. Do the boys miss it?

Nah. They've moved onto Valentines day. 

How's the wedding shopping going?

I haven't ordered anything yet, I get annoyed and start looking at other stuff!

Today's wedding task was dealing with an uprising against my MOH with Bachelorette party plans. 

[preppy]

Our Christmas tree is still going strong on our back deck. It's been on the to do list for weeks!

[pinkroses]

I love it when people keep their outdoor lights up through the winter.  Only the white ones on bushes, though, not the colorful ones or the obviously holiday themed stuff.  It makes the early darkness a little more cheerful, I think. 

[elfinia7]

Ok, so we totally still have our outside christmas lights up. However, I have not turned them on since after New Years. The setting up and taking down of lights is my H's job and he feels spring is an appropriate time (ie warmer) to go out and take them all down. I did finally take down the wreath that was on our door last week and tossed it. The tree and indoor decorations were down after New Years.

My H is Clark Griswold at heart and is always sad when it's time for the tree to come down.

[CheshireGrin]

Ours is still sitting on the side of the house (outside). We took it down a few days after New Year's, but we're planning to burn it in the firepit out back and just haven't gotten around to it. First there was that snap of negative temps and we decided it was just too cold to hang around outside (even with a bonfire, lol) and then once it was warmer, it was rainy.

Now we're just being lazy.