I have to be quiet about this. I think they can hear me.
But it’s getting to be time to take down the tree.
It’s the price we have to pay for the Christmas celebration.
For the past few weeks, the Christmas tree has been the focus of the holiday celebration and the focus of family. The family shops for the tree together. The family decorates it together. The family opens presents around it together.
But Christmas is over. Now, the tree is garbage.
And nobody wants to be the one to remove the decorations from the tree and drag it into the alley, where the tree will lie cold and isolated as it awaits its hearse, also known as the garbage truck.
It doesn’t seem a decent end for something that has brought so much joy and happiness to the family.
For those few weeks, it almost seemed as if the tree were alive, acting as a person visiting for the Christmas holiday.
Complicating this dilemma for my own family is our cat, Kate, who has bonded with the tree.
Before we even could jam the tree into the stand, Kate plopped down underneath it and purred loudly.
When we decorated the tree, Kate brought over one of her toys — one that makes a tinkling sound like an ornament — and left it under the tree as her decoration contribution.
Ever since then, she spends a lot of time cuddled under her pal — the Christmas tree.
How can I tell Kate (and the tree) that the end is near?
I’ll just have to do it somehow. And so will you.
Oak Park collects deceased Christmas trees during the second and third week of January on regular trash collection days. Trees also may be placed at the curb for residents who don’t have an alley.
Trees will be collected only if they are free of decorations, ornaments, tinsel and stands. Wreaths and garlands will not be collected because they contain wires and cannot be mulched or composted. Wreaths and garlands should go in the trash container.
And maybe that’s an answer, if there can be an answer to the mystery of why Christmas trees must die.
The trees that Oak Park collects will be ground into mulch and compost. So, the tree doesn’t really die.
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The tree you loved, and the tree Kate loved, will create new life.
And Christmas trees will live again next Christmas.
If you have questions about Christmas tree removal, call the Oak Park Public Works Department at 708-358-5700 or email [email protected].
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.