Bye Bye, Mollie!

Dear Liza,

We put all the Christmas things away last week, but pretty Mollie from Mollala, our tree, was still here. We were waiting for the regular Sunnyside School Christmas tree recycling event, which we carry our tree to every year. This was us last year.

Sadly, the school has canceled the event as a way of making sure people stayed properly distanced and safe. But what would we do with Mollie? As lovely as she has been, cut trees have a limited life, and she was getting very dry.

Clever Grandpa Nelson solved the problem! He found that Boy Scout Troop #24 was having its own tree recycling fund raiser. It was a little further away at the Walgreens parking lot, but totally do-able.

We pulled Mollie from her stand and as gently as possible, dropped her off the balcony. I’m sorry I don’t have that picture! She was raining needles and floated down quite elegantly.

Then we loaded her into my garden wagon, lined with cardboard to protect it from sap and punctures. Bridgett volunteered to be the beast of burden, we helped steer and hold her steady, and off we went, a half a mile through the neighborhood.

The Boy Scout troop charges us $17 to take the trees, then delivers a few hundred of them in a flimsily customized trailer to McFarlane’s Bark, a landscaping company just south of town.

The company then mulches the trees and uses it in yards.

It was good to find another way to recycle our tree and help out local folks. It is odd, though, after almost six weeks, to have a completely un-Christmased living room.

That’s okay. Only 350 days until Christmas 2022!

Love,

Grandma Judy