In the morning, when the house is quiet, I want to get to it. Off with the ornaments, Put away stockings, bells, wreaths, holiday dishes and glasses – all of it!
It is a huge job and part of me wishes I would wait for daughters to return from their outing so that I'd have help.
Ed watches. I think he cannot believe what a big production this entire holiday is. The challenge of a rugged path up a desolate mountain? No problem. This? Best to retreat and hide.
But he is there, on the floor, grunting, when the time comes to take the monster bush out. We cannot get the tree into the tree bag. We cannot get the tree out the door. Or down the elevator. Or round back to the recyclable room. There is a lot to curse about and I manage to cover the range.
The tree is out.
The clean up really begins.
All the way until sunset.
One thinks it may have been easier to chuck the thing off the balcony.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if that's what they did, since Nina ambiguously stated "the tree is out." ;)
ReplyDeleteYou beat us by just one day, Nina -- we're heading out for a few days ourselves, and cannot leave the tree up where the cats could endanger themselves with it. It was fun to read this post while on my de-Christmas-ing break. I'm working up enthusiasm for returning all the boxes to their shelves and hauling out the vacuum cleaner. (So far I'm not making much progress on the enthusiasm, but I'll get this stuff done eventually.)
[My "verification word" was 'prole'. Does Blogger think I'm a member of the downtrodden underclass just because of a few Christmas chores? Absurd!]
I'm thinking it went off the balcony too. You can tell us, Nina. Your secret is safe with us.
ReplyDeletePagans! Don't you know you're supposed to wait until Epiphany to chuck the tree? You know, when the wise men came to Jesus, representing the dispensation of divine favor to gentiles as well as Israel? Never mind that we stole the whole tree idea from other religions. It's tradition! January 6th, darn it!
ReplyDeleteThe problem with hoisting it over the balcony: you have to then carry it all around the building to the recycling room. Easier to vacuum hallways then driveways and sidewalks. Then there are the flowers and bushes underneath the balcony...
ReplyDeleteTrunk first, lots of crackling, heaving, pushing and out the front door it went. It helped that it was not totally dry yet.
NonVoxPop: darn. I always get these rules wrong. Eh, on January 6th, I'm outta these cold climates. Enough is enough.