To Quote Clark Griswold,..."The Tree!"

 Tell me, what don't you see in these pictures?

I'll give you a hint...it's green, it was once alive, and you can buy fake ones around August of each year at Costco.

What you're not seeing in these pictures is our Christmas tree.

And I have no idea what happened to it.

Some background: since 1997, we lived in a community that provided a service--they would drive around and pick up discarded Christmas trees after the holiday as long as they were on the curb by a specific date. Taking the tree out to the street after Christmas was second-nature. It's what you did. Streets would be lined with dead trees after Christmas.

During the week after Christmas we took everything down. Because this is our first year in a new community, I had no idea if that same wonderful service was available here, and since I didn't know what to do with the tree, I dragged it and left it on the curb. I did notice ours was the only tree on the street.

On New Years Eve the last contractor working on our basement came to finish the bathroom shower door. He was a local and when we had a moment, we asked him what people did with their old Christmas trees. He said people took them to the local landfill and the city added the trees to their mulch that they gave out each spring. Great, I thought. I can strap the tree to the roof of the van and go for a drive.

I figured I'd either take the tree to the dump of cut it up and put it in the garbage. Either way, it would be gone eventually. Then, I kind of forgot about the tree. We had a few skiffs of snow, but not enough to cover up the tree. Plus, some days we never leave the house so a dead tree outside wasn't high on or list of things to do.

Last Thursday I went to get the mail. As I walked back to the driveway I noticed--for the first time--the tree was gone. I have no idea when it was taken or who took it. I felt like Clark Griswold when he said in disbelief after his tree was destroyed, "The tree." If the town doesn't pick up old trees then some kind person took it away for us. If so, I'd like to know who so I could thank them.

Just another adventure living in a new place.