Holiday

[CamilleP]

day I have ever taken down my artificial Christmas tree.      I ought to be ashamed of myself, but I NEVER expected those little button battery lantern ornaments to keep turning on, night after night, after my birthday, after St. Valentine's Day, after St. Patrick's Day for pity's sake, and finally, today, the first day of Spring, I said ENOUGH!  I took the little button batteries out of the lanterns, put them in a baggie to recycle, since they are lithium, and took the rest of the admittedly spare ornaments off the tree, and packed it all away.

I actually had a second reason to keep that tree up, honestly.  We adopted a little 13 year old Cairn Terrier from a shelter on February 6th, and I don't think the old fellow had a Christmas this past year, he spent it in a cold, concrete shelter run.  So I thought poor Charlie needed the reassurance of seeing that tree light up every night, acting as a night light in the living room so he could navigate his new home if he needed to go out a doggie door in the middle of the night.  Charlie has now completely settled in and knows he is safe in his Forever Home, so the tree goes away.  I did pull out the paperclay and Rykraft cookie stamp box when I was in the holiday closet so I can make Charlie his own ornament for next year's tree, he will go next to the ornament of his Cairn predecessor in our home, our late beloved Cinder, who was a wheaten girlie.  Charlie is a black-masked grey brindle, so I will do a different paint job, but he will fit in just fine with all the Scottie ornaments I've made for my Scottie girls and boys over the years.

Thanks for hearing my "confession", holiday forum members, I hope I've given you all a reason to pat yourselves on the back for being SIGNIFICANTLY more organized and timely than I was this year! 

[Nataliesgramma]

I did the same thing....

I have a 5 ft heavily flocked tree that I left just the white lights on until today...

Looked so pretty during cold evenings in the Living room...

[hellie jo]

@CamilleP  Bless you for adopting Charlie. Please give him a hug from me.

I think the latest I have taken our tree down was February. Hey,we can do what works for us. Take care.

[amyb]

@CamilleP @hellie jo @Nataliesgramma Add me to the list!...just today finished taking off the last of the ornaments to pack away in storage as soon as I get the last of the boxes down.

This too is officially longest I've kept up a tree.

Ps, saw on a recent Facebook post about this...I was surprised how many people were saying they too still had their trees up!

I too have thoroughly enjoyed having it all winter long...warmed my livingroom area each night.

It was a new 6.5' tree I bought, pre-lit from B B & B and it had 9 or 10 different light settings, I loved it...after Christmas I mostly kept it on the white lights, more seasonal, less Christmas. But I admit...some nights I turned the color back on because it was pretty.

I used to just put up a smaller table top tree and keep it up through Valentine's Day, when I redid that one in hearts, then I'd take it down.

Inherited my mom's little table top tree this past year, ❤️ so that one went in my bedroom...just took that down this week too.

This was the longest, and I'm proud to say it. LOL. It was a tough year. I thought I was going to skip it all together then the bug bit me, I bought the new tree, and loved it...started decorating everything.

So that's MY story. 😄🎄

I think that's a wonderful idea @CamilleP for your little rescue, bless you for that too...

And @Nataliesgramma  totally agree...it lights a dreary season. I think I may just do it again next year.

Happy Spring~🌱🌷

[Bhvbum]

This has definitely been a tough year, and the first year I have not put up a Christmas tree.  I knew if I put it up it would be Easter before I took it down. I think getting the tree down by St. Patrick's Day is a good deal. Winter is over and spring is here, perfect timing. 

[on the bay]

@CamilleP -

That is the sweetest story!

You are a girl after my own heart.

I think that pretty tree and lights gave him much comfort

[on the bay]

@amyb -

I think that all sounds so wonderful!

I had posted before that I was sitting on our front porch and happened to notice a neighbors outside colored lights on their pine tree which made me so happy. This was just a few days ago and I hope they leave it up all year!

[Mary Bailey]

there are many times that I wish I had kept my beautiful Chistmas tree up longer

Blessings to those of you that did just that

[crazycockermom]

My first thought when I started to read your post was thank goodness I wasn’t the only one that kept my tree up longer than normal this year. Then I read the rest of your post and totally understood. Bless you for rescuing that sweet little senior!! He is so lucky to have you!! ❤️

I had a hard time taking down my tree this year too because of the dog I lost last October, my sweet Gigi, whom I adopted as a senior (she was about 11 when I rescued her and we had her three years). I really wasn’t in the mood to put up my normal tree with all my pretty ornaments. But I ended up buying a smaller slim tree just for my dog related ornaments. I have custom ornaments of all my dogs and had bought a special ornament in remembrance of Gigi. Seeing my tree lit each night made me happy and it made me sad to think of taking it down. But on Feb 28th I finally made myself do so.

So I can totally relate to you, in a different way. I’d love to see pics of the ornaments you’ve made next year!

[catter70]

My tree has been down since Jan., but wanted to say congratulations on your new family member and for adopting a senior pet. He's living the good life he deserves now. Welcome home, Charlie.