Oh Fire Hazard, Oh Fire Hazard...

The Malufau Tree Saga.

Part 2.

You know it's time to get rid of the tree when:

1. Every time you walk within 10 feet of the tree, you can hear the needles flying off the tree, and landing on the ground.

2. When reach through the tree to plug it the lights, and it sounds like one of those rain-maker toys.

3. When the same water you put in the there 2 weeks ago... is still there. Luke warm and nasty.

4. When you haven't smelt that "ahhh, real tree" smell in 3 weeks.

And best of all...

5. It is absolutely time to part ways with the tree when...

Your tree looks like this when you are done taking off the ornaments and lights:

The tree was on the pathetic side before.

Now look at it. Shameful.

This my friends, is what dead looks like. This also is what happens when you go out of town for a week; and your tree is neglected, left alone, slowly dying of thirst.

Luckily, I figured this might happen, so I laid a sheet down under it before I disrobed the tree. This picture below doesn't do the massive amounts of needles justice. (Keep in mind that by the time it got to this point, 1/2 the needles had already buried themselves down into our carpet). I easily could have stuffed a toddler size mattress with all the needles that fell off.

Serious. Dead (tree) Serious.

So... when exactly is Christmas officially over? Is it when the last present is opened? When the Christmas dinner dishes are finally in the dishwasher? Is it when you fall asleep in your new Christmas jammies on Christmas night?

Or is it when you tree gets to this point: degraded to nothing more than a fire hazard?

Alright. Million Dollar Question: Now what to do with it?

Here was my thought process:

1. I didn't hear anything about a Boy Scout tree pick up, and really, would it be worth the gas to come pick this up?

2. We were not going to tie this scratchy twig on top of our corolla. Can you say new paint job?

3. On top of transporting it, I was not about to pay to dispose it...

so, I know it is super un-eco friendly to throw away a tree, but-

this tree left us no other choice.

I also knew our apartment complex would not appreciate a tree thrown in the dumpster, so... I came up with my own solution.

While Ammon was gone, I pulled out a hand circular saw, and went to work.

Off came the branches. Largest twig (aka trunk) was hacked into three parts, and the entire tree fit into a box! A small box too.

That box quickly went into the dumpster while no one was looking, bag of garbage thrown on top.

Done.

Adios tree.

Thanks for the laughs.

So. After all the trouble this little tree was this year. Here's the other million dollar question:

Are we going to venture up the mountain again next year for our family tree?

You betcha!

Once you go sparse and scrawny, you never go back! :)

And..

Just in case I was really wondering if Christmas was actually over, I just had to look at our counter:

Check out our poinsettia. Christmas. Is. Over.

356 Days and Counting...

Maybe by next year we can figure out how to keep something alive.