Connie's Corner

What...?

July 11 Prompt: YOUR CHOICE ---1. MTR or MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL, 2. GAS FRACTURING or Fracking, 3. A tale of taking down the Christmas Tree in July

I had to look up that second one...guess I'm a bit out of the loop. The first one, also known as strip mining, is very familiar since my hubby is originally from WVa. Even though, personally, I have never left my Christmas tree up until July, I will write about the least environmentally hazardous and leave the others to the pros.

I did put up my Christmas tree one year on Dec. 15th, and the next morning was surprised to find it down already. This was my last "real" tree. Overnight, it became my new kitty's favorite climbing toy. Unfortunately, due to my negligent anchoring, when 'fatso', I mean Mopsy, got to the top, all balance was lost, and, apparently, tree and Mopsy heaved to the floor. She was rolling around in the branches when I got up. Fortunately, it was on carpet and very few decorations were broken...if you don't count the ones Mopsy batted around. That was the only year I remember putting my tree up twice. I took carpenter's string, encircled the truck near the top and secured each end, right and left to the wall. Then I decorated the string with Christmas cards and Mopsy continued to climb to her heart's content without any problems.

The next year and ever after, I've had artificial trees, and the one I have now even has its own lights...what a boon to tree trimming that is. Mopsy is disinterested in the fake trees, only sometimes playing with a few of the lower hanging ornaments. I always take down my tree on New Year's Day, some tradition left over from my childhood...bad luck to leave it up past then. One year, though, I did forget my front door wreath until just before Easter. Funny, no one even mentioned it?

The only time I remember a Christmas tree staying up was in the home of a very nice older lady. It was a beautiful artificial tree decorated with Victorian dolls, and she left it up in her livingroom for several years. I think it was a lot of trouble to take up and down and it got to be too much for her. It seemed to give her a lot of enjoyment and that was all that counted...

until next time...c