When Do You Toss Out Your Tree? [Archive]

MouseWife

12-26-2006, 10:47 AM

Or, more gently, 'Take Down Your Tree'?

Normally we keep it up with the lights but no decorations through New Years Day {photo ops ;) } and then put it out back {shortest route over the carpet, hopefully less needles to clean up}.

This year, though, our tree is over dry. Everyone was working and no one noticed that the stand was leaking and not keeping the tree watered.
A mess, yes, but more so too much time without water.

I think I should take her down now but I feel sad doing so.

Tell me. How long do you keep up your tree after Christmas Day?

{also, I am thinking responses will depend on when you go back to work/school?}

Strangler Lewis

12-26-2006, 10:54 AM

When I was a kid and we had a fake tree, we kept it up through my birthday in January. Now, we generally try to take advantage of one of the Boy Scout/Girl Scout curbside pickups in early January. This year, though, we were late in getting the thing decorated. We might keep it up a little longer, and I'll just chop it up and throw it in the bins assuming it does not dry out. Once it starts getting dry, out it goes.

Snowflake

12-26-2006, 11:00 AM

Our tree stays up until at least January 5th. Then, it is disassembled, ornaments packed, lights packed and the tree is bagged and on the curb. Then I vacuum like a madwoman to get the needles up.

BarTopDancer

12-26-2006, 11:02 AM

If it's dry enough to be a fire hazzard toss it.

MouseWife

12-26-2006, 11:14 AM

Well, I just pinched it {since you mentioned fire hazard, BtD}. There is a bit o'moisture left. I guess it'll stay up till New Years Day.

Thank you guys for sharing your traditions. :snap:

We've toyed with the idea of a fake tree. Especially when we find pine needles months later...and I try so hard to clean them all up!!!

RStar

12-26-2006, 07:16 PM

We take ours down the day after Christmas. We put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving, so it's been there long enough, and is usually dry. Besides, it looks neekid withought presents under it.

scaeagles

12-26-2006, 09:27 PM

New Years Eve at the latest. My eldest has a Jan 2 birthday so we try to create some separation.

MouseWife

12-26-2006, 10:54 PM

It does look neked and sad without gifts. And, I am leary of running the lights on it all day to compensate....

Well, that is a very nice thing to seperate the occassions. And a good deadline to clear it out.

I was informed tonight that the tree will be removed on Thursday. LOL Probably Friday. Those are days the Hubster is off. He has worked 6 & 7 days straight the past few weeks. While he is nice to say he'll do it I won't expect any chores outta him.

~MS~

12-26-2006, 11:00 PM

Mine is down, packed away for another year. I don't do the whole Jan 5th thing and Missy is very much ok presents are opened, we're done, moving on when do we get to go to Disneyland again...

MouseWife

12-26-2006, 11:52 PM

I like the way that girl thinks. :cool:

~MS~

12-26-2006, 11:56 PM

Well she comes by it honest ;)

She's nagging now when am I mailing some packages that thru circumstances beyond our control didn't get delivered when we thought they would...I'm thinking I'll either mail them tomorrow or hide the suckers LOL

MouseWife

12-27-2006, 12:05 AM

Well she comes by it honest ;)

LOL Me too!!! From the heart. :)

Oh man, I hear ya about hiding those suckers....

RStar

12-27-2006, 11:09 AM

I'm tossing my tree at this moment! Just FYI.....

innerSpaceman

12-27-2006, 01:11 PM

With me, trimming the tree in the first place is a thing I like to do very close to Christmas. And so one of the most beautiful things that will be in my home all year will still be brand new on Boxing Day.

So it stays to grace my place till mid-January every year. And free curbside carcas pickup stops after the 15th, I think.

I think about getting a fake tree every year, but never do. Sheesh, I've found a few stray needles just now from last year ... or perhaps from some earlier archeological era of Christmas. And I hate participating in the genocidal slaughter of the young pinelings.

But a real tree has a real spirit. And it wouldn't be one of the most beautiful things in my home all year without that.

.

MouseWife

12-27-2006, 02:00 PM

Yep, when we were putting up this years tree I found needles from trees from years gone past....

I am also torn about a fake tree. We had one most of the years growing up. It always made me sad. But, I also am sad about the dead tree sitting in my living room. My son didn't get it, I guess, and asked if we could put it outside and try and bring it back to life. I had to esplain' to him it no longer had any roots. :(

But a fake tree??? Yikes!

Well, I did the deed. I figure the Hubster is dealing with a lot of mess at work {leaking ceilings, security issues, blah blah blah} that I would deal with the mess at home. I had to take down a canopy/tarp that the wind was whipping about{worried it would slam into the sliding glass door, yuck full of spiders and dirty water!!}. Took out the tree as clean as I could and now am cleaning up a whole bunch of needles.

Did I mention my vacuum isn't working? :(

The Christmas tree. Such a lovely sentiment. But, when you think about it, it brings up a bit to debate about.

lizziebith

12-27-2006, 02:28 PM

When I was (not much) younger, I'd cry at the sight of trees in a lot on Christmas Eve: trees that didn't get chosen. :( I still get pretty upset -- last Saturday we drove past the lot on our block and I turned to hubby and practically wailed "there's nothing wrong with any of those trees, but they still didn't get picked!"

My allergies, though, were the deciding factor in us going fake. I can visit trees, but I can't have that pine sap around for two weeks or my eyes will nearly swell shut and I'll just sneeze and sneeze and sneeze. I do miss the scent of a real tree. I don't miss the infernal needles. I love pulling our little fake pre-lit tree out of its box, fluffing up its branches, putting the twenty or so ornaments that will fit on it up, and sitting back to enjoy it only a quarter-hour later. And I never have to worry about it being dry!

Jughead P. Jones

12-27-2006, 05:41 PM

The tree usually comes down January 2nd here. We figure that after New Year's Day, the holidays are truly over, so no need keeping it up after that. We also have a fake tree, as my apartment complex has banned real trees for fear they may catch fire...but, I love real trees, oh, I do!

But, does anyone here do what Gretchen Wilson did in her "Redneck Woman" song, and keep their Christmas lights up on the front porch all year long? ;)

MouseWife

12-27-2006, 08:01 PM

Ooo! I would! I think the ornaments and lights are the best part of the tree. Oh, I just had a sad moment when I sat here at the computer. I bent down to plug in the lights to the tree....Yep, it isn't here!

But, back to the lights. I have had lights strung about. But not the multi-colored x-mas kind.

innerSpaceman

12-27-2006, 08:58 PM

But, does anyone here do what Gretchen Wilson did in her "Redneck Woman" song, and keep their Christmas lights up on the front porch all year long?
Well, not the porch ... but at my ex's good suggestion, I keep a few main strands of custom-colored christmas lights throughout the apartment.

It's pretty all year round, when I turn them on (in one room, they tend to be the main lighting) ... and it sure saves wear and tear on the crown moldings, not having to punch fresh holes in them year after year. They'd be wormswood inside a decade.

Eh, with my age-related time perception, it's Christmas every three months anyway.

Sub la Goon

12-27-2006, 10:40 PM

My mom is one of those rarities who has a living, potted tree in her back yard and we haul it in every December, decorate it, and schlep it back out again (when she finally allows it sometime close to Valentine's Day).

RStar

12-28-2006, 01:07 AM

And I hate participating in the genocidal slaughter of the young pinelings.
The thing is, that when the trees come from a tree farm they were planted just for that reason. So they never would have been alive in the first place were it not for the demand of fresh trees. And if the land was fairly bare, then the trees help take up some of our greenhouse gasses and give off some oxygen. And if we recycle them properly they help nourish the ground as mulch. It's a good thing all the way around.

Nephythys

12-28-2006, 09:42 AM

I do have a fake tree. I was planning to take it down after New Years- it all came down Tuesday night- the 26th.

All done.

The flag outside is flying a New Years banner- and the only place you can still see Christmas is the leftover candy, cookies, popcorn and fudge.

I am so anxious for the new year, so anxious to put the holidays behind me that I just got it done.

MouseWife

12-30-2006, 06:01 PM

I am so anxious for the new year, so anxious to put the holidays behind me that I just got it done.

I hear ya. Bring it on!

Matterhorn Fan

01-01-2007, 03:50 PM

Fake tree. No dry fire hazards. No urgent reason to take it down.

Won't it just pack itself up nicely without me?

Drince88

01-01-2007, 04:34 PM

I'm a traditionalist - decor comes down on January 6th, or reasonably close to that.

Kevy Baby

01-01-2007, 08:55 PM

Fake tree. No dry fire hazards. No urgent reason to take it down.

Won't it just pack itself up nicely without me?See, that's one of the reasons I don't mind getting a real tree every year - its a good way to ensure that it gets taken down in a resonable time-frame!

CoasterMatt

01-01-2007, 09:05 PM

We took all our Christmas stuff down today

I think I might have accidentally taken down a few other decorations as well.

I'd let ya know when I get some sleep.

RStar

01-02-2007, 12:14 AM

Won't it just pack itself up nicely without me?No. Sorry. :D

mousepod

01-02-2007, 09:44 AM

Pickup today. Tree go bye-bye.

Snowflake

01-02-2007, 10:05 AM

Our tree came down yesterday. Even with the LED lighting on it, that tree was really dead. Happily, no major piles of needles to sweep up. :)

City is picking it up today and mulching it.

Moonliner

01-02-2007, 10:20 AM

The tree, the outdoor lights and all the other accompaniments stay up for the full twelve days of Christmas. We have a nativity scene that keeps the clock. The baby Jesus shows up on Christmas morning. The wise men also show up Christmas day but are placed in a back room. For each day of Christmas my wife (seriously, you did not think this was my doing right?) moves the wise men a bit closer so that they "arrive" on Epiphany.

After that the outside lights go dark and the tree comes down at the first opportunity.

Ghoulish Delight

01-02-2007, 10:22 AM

TFor each day of Christmas my wife (seriously, you did not think this was my doing right?) moves the wise men a bit closer so that they "arrive" on Epiphany. So today's the day the Mohel shows up, right?

Moonliner

01-02-2007, 10:25 AM

So today's the day the Mohel shows up, right?

Now cut that out!

We're talking serious religious **** here.

Oh, wait. Can I rephrase that first sentence? :blush:

MouseWife

01-02-2007, 10:26 AM

I spent all day the 30th packing up all of the things we'd pulled out. The dog pee'd on two boxes so I had to go out and buy some Rubbermaid containers. Then, as I was looking at the stuff, I decided I didn't want all of it anymore. So, I got rid of about two boxes full of stuff.

I also found broken things in my containers, probably from someone rough handling my schtuff. :mad: So, I need a new 'Santa' plate . Starbucks has a cute set....but I don't think I will take advantage of any sales because then I would have to pull down the boxes.

Did I mention it is a PITA to reach the boxes? We can squeeze one vehicle into our garage, the shelves where those are at are blocked by a washer,dryer, lawnmower and two motorcycles. *sigh*

So harried was I about all of that {like doing a puzzle,making it all fit properly and hoping it would make it to next year...} I actually dreamed last night that I walked into the living room and the tree was still up!!!!

I must have had enough needles to make a small tree.

What is the next holiday?

Ghoulish Delight

01-02-2007, 10:28 AM

We're talking serious religious **** here.
Circumcision is religious, and I'm not sure how much more serious it can get than wiener-cutting.

MouseWife

01-02-2007, 10:29 AM

MouseWife

01-02-2007, 10:33 AM

Circumcision is religious, and I'm not sure how much more serious it can get than wiener-cutting.

LOL

I am so glad it isn't a part of my religion. I know it is a 'tender' subject but I had no doubt about having it performed on my boys. The most grief I had was from my mother in law.

But, she also tried to get me to name my daughter 'Juliette'. If you know my name, you know that would have been horrible for my daughter.

Sorry to make light of a religious ceremony. Yep, can't get more seroius except if it is done accidentally. Or in anger? :eek:

Kevy Baby

01-02-2007, 09:49 PM

So today's the day the Mohel shows up, right?I've always wanted to be a Mohel. The pay is is bad, but the tips are great!

Strangler Lewis

01-02-2007, 10:29 PM

LOL

I am so glad it isn't a part of my religion. I know it is a 'tender' subject but I had no doubt about having it performed on my boys. The most grief I had was from my mother in law.

Not to sound overly curious, but I can't tell from this whether you did or you didn't have them circumcised.