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Just back me up on this.

One of the most delightful traditions we share in this part of the country is to remove the ornaments from the Christmas tree and relocate the tree to the back patio, just outside the back door, and then accidentally leave it there where it can be enjoyed for weeks to come.
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Right? That’s a real tradition, isn’t it?

I watermarked that photo so no one tries to steal it and claim that’s THEIR Christmas tree, right outside their back door, where it will likely stay well into February.



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Comments

  1. Perfect! We keep ours under our deck, wait for it to turn brown and then the kids use it as a prop when playing on the playset. They decorate it with toys from the sandbox, what a way to recycle! 😉

  2. Sounds about right. In my neighborhood there is apparently a contest to see who can keep their Christmas lights up the longest. Seriously, what’s with full on blinking candy cane stripes such, lit up like like Christmas is next week…in February?!

  3. The first year Dave and I were married we lived in an apartment with a balcony and when it was time to take the tree down we scooted it through the sliding glass doors. Then we hurled it off the balcony to get it out to the curb. The alternative was a giant staircase. Oh, memories! xo Kristin

  4. Our Christmas tree is still decorated and in the house! …WHOOPS

  5. That’s how we do it in the midwest!

  6. That’s hilarious – thanks for sharing. Ours was on the back deck for about two weeks!!

  7. Ha! I think the best Christmas present I got this year was the realization that moving to a place with a dedicated yard waste pick up day meant we just had to remember to drag the tree out to the curb.

  8. I think you should decorate it for Valentines Day – then Easter – then 4th of July – why get rid of it? 🙂 Ours is out on the driveway, where my boys hauled it one day, and where it will likely stay until I put it into my husband’s parking spot, you know, as a little hint!!!

  9. That’s such a cute idea…I mean, heck, we kept some lights up on our mantle. We just couldn’t stand parting with the cozy factor! 😉

  10. My husband’s work Christmas tree is decorated in Ravens colors right now for the Superbowl. They never take theirs down.

  11. OMG, I can never let my husband see this post. I got so mad at him for leaving the tree at the side of our house for a couple of days. Be very, very thankful you aren’t married to me:))

  12. Yup, ours was up until my husband’s birthday 1/22 (both my daughter and husband insisted), then it got moved out to the 3-season porch. I would like to put it outside with some peanut butter covered pine cones for food and shelter for the birds/small animals in our yard…our way of “greening” our Christmas, but we haven’t gotten to that point yet.

  13. yes! This is totally a real tradition. Did we come from the same family or something? 🙂 My husband and I do the same thing and our beautiful green tree is still sitting out on our deck – right outside the door so we can see it everyday. In the stand and all! Seriously, who can throw out such a pretty green tree??

    • Haha! Yes, ours is still in the stand. Actually last night, after I wrote this post, it fell over and is now laying on its side, so it’s like a hundred times less classy than yours.

  14. Well, eventually it will turn into mulch, right? That’s what you are hoping? Then you can gently blow on it and it will disperse evenly into your flower beds and just look terrific? That is just one of many outcomes I see happening here 😉

    • It will definitely stay there until it has biodegraded enough for one gentle breath to send it evenly dispersing across the yard. HAHAHAHA! Hilarious!

  15. Our township has a one day each year where they will pick up your tree at the curb. The first 5 years we lived here, we missed the pick up day. We’d remember when we saw the truck picking up our neighbor’s tree. I have 5 christmas trees in various states of decay hidden in the backyard brush. We have a big backyard project schedule for the spring. I’ll have to do something with those trees. I feel like I’m in the mafia or something and trying to remember where all the bodies are buried.

  16. When my children were little we did the same thing but we then spent Jan and Feb making bird seed ornaments and then the boys and I would love watching all the birds that loved our tree. It was a fun tradition.

    • So I can turn this into an educational experience and pretend like it was on purpose AND get great-mom points? BRILLIANT.

  17. A few weeks?? Um, ours lasted outside our back door until JUNE of last year! It’s like Christmas all year round – or just plain shameful 🙂

  18. Haha, love it. I think we’ve all been guilty of that!! 😉

  19. HAH! We actually truly did have a tradition at my parents house where we’d take it out and set it propped up below this big beautiful bay window we have in our dining room that overlooks our back yard. Then we’d make bird feeders by spreading peanut butter on pine cones and then rolling them in bird seed and put them in the tree so the birds had something to snack on, and a tree to take cover in. The cardinals were especially big fans!

  20. 🙂 That is definitely a great tradition – we bought a faux tree this past Christmas but if we had had a real one I’m sure we would have joined you in this tradition!

  21. Hahaha … wait FIRE HAZARD!!! lol

  22. Haha, you even still have it on a stand! Usually my hubby dumps all the water on our laminate on the way out which really gets me going!
    But we are pretty good about getting it picked up.

  23. I love it!!!! Ours is sitting by our garden. We joke that we will stand it up and then when we attempt to sell the house this spring/summer people will think we have a tree randomly growing in our yard. And wonder why suddenly the tree is not there when they take possession of the house. 🙂

  24. Pretty sure here there is a specific day in january for tree pickup, and if you miss it, it’s up to you to haul your own tree to the dump (and pay), so most people get theirs out and to the curb that way. But, no judgement:)

    Jessica

  25. Just put some lights back on it and call it good! :)))

  26. No worries… I have pictures from this past 4th of July with our tree sitting on the deck with the grill while we barbecued. We burned in our bonfire later that night, so maybe I can say we did it that way on purpose.

  27. LOL! Ours is laying behind our back deck right now. My husband claims he is going to burn it as some point.

  28. We traded in our artificial tree this year (or is it last year??) for a real, in the pot, still has roots, tree. So until the cold and snow go away, ours is still sitting in the living room waiting to be planted in the yard. Unless I forget to water it before spring gets here, then we’ll have to have a tree funeral (a.k.a. a campfire).

  29. Dude, I love this. You might as well throw a few red hearts on it 🙂

  30. If you spray paint it green then it is still “alive”…

  31. It looks like it’s just hanging out waiting for a new DIY project. Slice that baby up and do something with the trunk!

  32. I love it! We put ours in the alley. With everyone else. Now there is a browning forest of Christmas trees out there. Eventually the mob-run garbage pick-up trucks give in and take them away.

    Now my next door neighbor? Yeah, they threw their tree into their front yard. And there it still sits.

    Oh, and one year we threw ours in the front yard with plans to haul it into the alley. And forgot. And then we got two feet of snow. So the tree remained buried until sometime in March when we finally thawed out … 🙂

  33. We put ours outside by the bird feeder for the birdies to play in and have some protection from the cold Wisconsin winter. 🙂

  34. Hahahaha! In our part of the country we (and by we I mean just us, to the shock and dismay of our neighbors) drag them to the side of the house and leave them until it stops raining enough to take them to the recycling place. By which I mean June. 🙂 ~Angela~

  35. Lol –why not? Your tree, your back door, your view!
    xo heidi

  36. OMG! That’s so funny and so true!! This year was different for us tho…the day after Christmas our tree was in our front yard waiting for the trash. Little did we know that our area wasn’t picking up trees with the trash that year….so we had to take it to the park across the way a couple days later. Now that I see your picture, I’m kinda bummed I didn’t stay with tradition and leave it on our deck, for a couple weeks, like usual. 😉 hahahaha! Love this post!

  37. Perfect tradition – don’t think it would be the same with my artificial tree – do you?!
    Kelly

  38. This year we took it down the week after New Years’, but somehow it stayed in the front yard – green and happy and upright in its dry stand – for a good three weeks after that before finally landing in our yard waste bin… We used it as a landmark for the mobile notary who came to help us sign closing docs on our refinance, so that was good, right?

  39. Lol. Ours is on the side of the house instead 😉 We definitely missed the day the garbage company would have picked them up for free…now we have to wait till they start taking yard waste…I believe that is in April!!

  40. LOVE that you watermarked that photo!! It’s a darn good tree. I might try to steal that photo!! Yes, it’s a tradition. As well as leaving the wreath on the door until summer. Yes, my wreath is still there. It’s blended in…I don’t even see it anymore :).

  41. At least it’s not laying helplessly in the middle of your backyard like our next door neighbors. . . with the tree stand still attached.

  42. Thank you so much for the post! Now I know we are not veirdos

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