The True End of Christmas 2008

My real Christmas tree finally came down yesterday. It was about time. Not only was it January 17th, but the tree was dried out and every time I touched it, the needles dropped to the ground. Tyler and I unwound the Christmas lights, both white and copper balls, which caused branches to break off. Then, because of the condo building regulations, we had to bind up the branches, in hopes of not dropping too many needles on our way down.



We used plastic packaging wrap since it clings to everything. It worked alright, as you can tell, but it didn’t bind the tree enough. You can also see all the needles on the ground (clearly, we made a mess).

As we (literally) carted off the tree to the bowels of the condo building, where the dumpsters are located, more needles and pieces of branch fell off, leaving a trail behind us, especially when we squeezed the tree through doorways.

I know it’s way late to be taking down a tree, but I justify it by the fact that the Daley Plaza tree is still up as well. Granted, the hundred or so foot tree is really about 30 trees and I know it’ll take just as long—if not longer—than it took to put it up (more than a week). The other difference? While the Daley tree may still be up for a little bit, now that my tree is down, Christmas 2008 truly feels over.