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A little too merry…
How Late Is Too Late To Leave A Christmas Tree Up?
If you ask my neighbor, Ted, he would say “never”
The tulips are in bloom, the sun is warming, the maples are starting to bud, but in an apartment in Greenwich Village, just two floors away, there’s a Christmas tree still up, fully decorated, with unused gifts expectantly nestled in wrapping paper under green boughs.
My jolly neighbor, Ted, is a superfan of Christmas, extending the holiday season way past any reasonable date, probably later than anyone in the Christian cosmos.
Ted eagerly puts up his 8-foot tree the day after Thanksgiving (he’d do it on the heels of Halloween, but his spouse forbids it), and reluctantly takes it down… ready for this?… on Easter day. For those not calendar watching, Easter falls on April 20th this year.
It is astounding to me that Ted celebrates Christmas for almost half a year, illuminating his tree every night long after Valentine’s Day, Groundhog’s Day, President’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Ash Wednesday have passed, spring has sprung, and Daylight Savings Time has begun.
I exhale with relief when New York’s Rockefeller Center tree comes down and local stores silence their merciless loop of Christmas carols. But that’s not Ted. On…
