Usually I wait until after the New Year to take the Christmas tree down but Hubby is home and I think I'm going to go ahead and take the decorations off, put them away and let him get the tree out of the house. I've got pine needles in every crevice of this place. I'll be forever getting rid of them all. Some of my girlfriends chastise me for always having to have a live tree but I couldn't imagine a Christmas without a "real" tree. It's just one of my things, I guess. It does become quite a mess sometimes but, hey, it's my mess!!
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Hubby was a big help and got the tree out and vacuumed up all the pine needles while I un-decorated everything. Then he went outside and picked up the rest of the benches and outdoor stuff and put them away because it's highly likely we'll have no more company that will want to sit outside the rest of this Winter. We like to leave stuff out at least through Thanksgiving because here in the great Hoosier State you never know what kind of weather you'll be having from day-to-day, but it's time to put it all up. I've got a feeling snow's coming anyway. (Oh, by the way, you do know that fresh pine needles have Vitamin C in them and make an excellent tea, right?! Check out my Did You Know page?)
See ya!