Unwanted and unloved?

Christmas Tree dump in the local park.

How sad! But I don't think that these trees were unloved, at all. And now the tree-spirits from them have escaped into the wild. You can see that they have gone to the misty hills beyond the park.

This is the scene from the other side of the pile. The whole area is quite extensive, and I couldn't capture it all without losing the definition of the individual trees. I suppose that it is all responsible recycling (of a kind).

I have to admit that our tree is still up, and decorated, and it will be until the end of the evening. We shall sit by it, read, and listen to music, to enjoy it all just once more. We are well aware of the arguments for and against Twelfth Night being on 5 Jan or 6 Jan, but plump for the latter to have our extra day of Christmas. The difference arises because, in centuries past, Christmas was deemed to start at sunset on 24 Dec and so the 12th night following it was 5 Jan. Nowadays, however, most people count from midnight on 25 Dec and so cause Twelfth Night to fall on the 6th. To add to the confusion, many of England's churches remain decorated beyond Twelfth Night so that they can use crib scenes in Epiphany services.

Our tree is not destined for the dump. We hope it is still living, and it will be returned in its pot to the garden. We'll probably have to put it in larger container later this year.

One last look before the decorations come off...