Demise of a Christmas Tree
Posted on 10. Jan, 2009 by Laura-Jane - Whimfield in House, Personal
Here’s a photo of our yard. Looks inconspicuous, no? Well, I’ll tell you what to look for in a minute.
I am an inadequate home-maker. I don’t clean and I don’t cook. Along the same lines, I have a terrible history of leaving Christmas trees up for way too long.
But this year, I took down our Christmas tree about three days after Christmas, because our house is a mess and the tree was just adding to the clutter.
I mentioned the fact that I am lacking in home-making skills, so perhaps you won’t be shocked by the following. And maybe if I just say it really fast you won’t actually absorb what I am about to say: by-taking-down-the-tree-I-just-meant-removing-the-decorations-and-opening-the-kitchen-door-and-launching-the-tree-out-into-the-yard. (But we live in the country. And that’s the glory of living in the country, because you can do such things.)
But the point is, I threw the tree into the yard and just left it there for a few days. But then the blizzard came, and now the Christmas tree is buried under three feet of snow.
All that’s peaking out is that little sprig, where the angel sat. Isn’t that sad?
Anonymous
Jan 10th, 2009
anything goes in the country-tires and old paint cans make great lawn orniments as well. long live the christmas tree!
jypsy
Jan 10th, 2009
Next blizzard you’ll forget all about it…..
Michelle
Jan 10th, 2009
Yea, cause it will be hidden from view. Outta site, outta mind!
In time, you’ll probably have a discreet little graveyard on your property for things too big to haul to the roadside. They all seem to do that here. We only have 1.5 acres so not likely to happen to us.
Sunshine pouring in a dusty home is a great motivator, by the way.
Andy Collier
Jan 10th, 2009
Ummm, that`s what we did too…..
Phil
Jan 10th, 2009
Hey, think of it this way: in a few weeks/months, when the snow finally melts, you get to do Christmas again. Only better this time: Backyard Christmas! With popcorn strings and edible ornaments the local wildlife can come nibble on
Or not. (this picture did, however, conjure up a funny mental image of future little Cam Jr’s and Laura-Jane Jr’s standing out in the yard, waiting to be fed, or at least let back into the house. But at least they’ll have a nice Christmas tree to play with. :-)
N&M
Jan 10th, 2009
We must be sisters! I did the same thing. LOL. I think I can top yours though. Ours went over the deck, tree stand and all…..It’s still there. And we don’t live in the country.
Natalie
Jan 10th, 2009
:) Don’t you love living in the country? So many places to put a used tree! The other day I dragged our tree down into the mini pine-forest next to our house, and laid to to rest next to last year’s tree (skeleton, really.) They are both now covered in snow.
When we lived in BC, we had a house in Clayburn Village (in Abbotsford, which unfortunately flooded badly this week.) We somehow missed the curbside tree pickup and our tree was left lying in on our wide driveway for a while. A few weeks later, there was a January flood, and when we got up the next day, the Christmas tree had floated off to who-knows-where! Easy disposal.
CWJ
Jan 10th, 2009
Appalling. Scandalous. Why, you’re living a…a…a Yokum lifestyle!!! I’m calling the Rural Beautification Society, and then the Police!
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jan 11th, 2009
@Anon – Long live the Christmas tree indeed!
@Jypsy – That would bring a whole new meaning to the phrase a summer of discovery… :P
@Michelle – “Sunshine pouring in a dusty home is a great motivator, by the way.” Ugh, I know, sometimes when the sun is hitting just right, I realize that even my computer has a layer of dust on it and I wonder how I was even able to see through it.
@Andy – Good!!!!!
@Phil – I know, this is why I am not sure whether there should ever be little Laura-Jane and Cameron Jrs… :P
@N&M – Lol, “And we don’t live in the country.” I am feeling better already!!!
@Natalie – Perfect..lol. I love that story. It was a Christmas miracle..! :)
@CWJ – That was what I was afraid of. But don’t you think I should be offered leniency, because at least I confessed my ways?
CWJ
Jan 11th, 2009
You must be joking…worst case of CFWs “going native” I’ve ever seen…
CWJ
Jan 11th, 2009
Make that “CFAs”…not too swift until I’ve had my second cuppa.
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jan 11th, 2009
@CWJ – This is where I turn ugly and try to make a bargain by enticing your curiousity with all of the other sordid tales of appalling and scandalous household crimes that I’ve committed. “And you don’t even know the half of it. If I you knew what I knew, you’d be shocked. Right now, if you sent a black-and-white to my house, you’d find a pile of floor sweepings just sitting on the floor. That’s right, officer, they’ve been swept up into a pile, but I never actually got the dust-pan and collected up the pile. That’s how twisted I am. And that’s just the beginning.”
CWJ
Jan 11th, 2009
Uh-huh…I’d suspected as much. And that severe new profile pic says it all. Sleepy Hollow is full of your ilk, Ms Koers, all doing hard time.
jen
Jan 11th, 2009
Hey, don’t feel bad. I’m totally the same. I took off decorations about 10 days after Christmas, chucked the tree outside in my slippers and later dragged it to the outside of the house where it will stay till the spring. Sad thing is I still haven’t put the decorations away yet, still sitting on the couch, now how’s that for lazy!!!
jen
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jan 11th, 2009
@CWJ – That’s right. It’s all severity, all the time now. True colours have been revealed! Oh, wait. Exclamation marks will no longer do. It is now periods and semi-colons only.
@Jen – I think we are kindred spirits, lol. Hey, but if we kept our houses as clean as normal people, would we be as productive?? Would you still be able to grow 30+ types of vegetables and hoe and row and farrow and whatever? I think not! We must choose. And I choose to be messy!
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jan 11th, 2009
@Jen continued – Um, okay, farrow was not the right word for me to use. I just looked it up.
Farrow means “to give birth to a litter of pigs.” What word was I looking for?? Fallow?? Furrow?? It’s some kind of farming term, right? I don’t know, there’s something there but I can’t put my finger on it. And I don’t think that my use of “row” was right either. I think I need a crash course in farming terminology.
CWJ
Jan 11th, 2009
Pardon me, my dear, but are you licensed to operate colons/semicolons? Few people understand their use, I’m afraid, and shouldn’t really be allowed to use them. I once walked into a “victim’s” office and pried that key off his keyboard, so don’t underestimate how serious I am about this issue…
Let me know when you’ve finished studying and are ready to take your colonologist’s certification exams, will you?
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jan 11th, 2009
@CWJ – A semi-colon links two complete sentences that are related.
Cameron should be giving me a foot massage; as I recall, he’s a wonderful foot-masseuse.
A colon introduces a quote. Laura-Jane desperately needs cookies: “I desperately need oatmeal cookies with raisins and chocolate chips in them!”
A colon can also introduce a list.
CWJ loves animals of all shapes and sizes:
horses;
dogs;
chickens;
llamas;
barn cats;
sheep;
a donkey; and
others!
HOWEVER, one cannot use a colon if the list is prefaced by a “for example” or a “such as”!
(Ooh, and did you notice that the semi-colons punctuate the list?)
Don’t quiz me on apostrophes though. Sometimes I’m good, sometimes I get stumped, especially on things such as,
Montague Writer’s Guild versus Montague Writers’ Guild.
Pass/fail? I’m sure you’ll get me on something. :)
CWJ
Jan 11th, 2009
Hate to be the one to tell you this (perhaps you didn’t notice…), but Cameron is, if anything…a masseur.
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jan 11th, 2009
Lol.. Dangitt!!
jypsy
Jan 12th, 2009
sounds like that tree will be a non-issue by Wednesday evening….
(BTW, we used to do as Phil mentioned – redecorate the tree “with popcorn strings and edible ornaments” after we threw it out.)
warren
Jan 13th, 2009
Hey, you created a wildlife habitat…that’s a great use of an old Christmas tree!
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jan 16th, 2009
@Jypsy – I’ve always wanted to do the popcorn, cranberry tree. Maybe next year!
@Warren – See, you’re a silver lining, glass half-full kind of guy! :)
Anonymous
Mar 18th, 2009
I woudn’t be too worried about your tree. About 20 years ago I lived in Mississauga, Ontario in a multi story apartment building. I lived on the fifth floor and being a single woman was far too girly (lazy) to take my real Christmas tree outside to the curb for tree disposal. My friends all teased me mercilessly about the tree sitting on my balcony. Well one day the following summer when I got off the bus to go home, I seen a Christmas tree by the curb of my building. I chuckled to myself and thought, “see, I’m not so bad, somebody else still has their tree too”. Up to my apartment I go and lo and behole my Christmas tree is gone. I’m guessing the superintendent got tired of seeing it sitting it my balcony and decided to enter my apartment and get rid of the offending tree. So I guess I was the worst offfender after all!