It's Over

[bjarvis]

Christmas has finally ended for us. The tree we so lovingly killed for the baby Jesus has expired: it's been shedding needles at an incredible pace despite our watering and embalming efforts.

Yesterday, the ornaments were removed and repackaged; today, the lights were taken down and the vegetation disposed. Furniture will be placed back where it was tonight and all will return to normalcy once again.

	Scene of the Crime See the bare spot encircled with pine needles? We were thinking of creating a pattern in white chalk to indicate where the victim was found but decided it was redundant.
	Follow the Trail No matter how gently we lifted the tree corpse, it shed needles constantly through the living room.
	Charlie Brown Special It used to be deep green and full. Now, it's half brown and increasingly barren. There's a metaphor in here somewhere but I've decided to ignore it.
	Curbside This is how Christmas ends: not with a bang but with a decaying pile of vegetation left at the side of the street for the county recycling services to collect in the morning.