I got my Christmas tree at Maple Row Tree Farm again this year.

I got really good mileage out of last year’s tree (I wrote that it was a Fraser Fir but might have been a Douglas Fir.

As is my custom, I decorated it with my favorite elves and enjoyed it for the holidays.

In mid-January, I took it down and dragged it out to the deck. It was really, really cold, so I came back in to put on a jacket, hat, and gloves so I could go back out and remove the base. But it was so cold, I couldn’t get myself interested in going back out there, so I left it on the deck in its base.

Here it is on 2/16 in the middle of a big snow storm:

I moved it closer to the bird feeder and often found this Cardinal in its branches, waiting for the other birds to scatter seeds on the deck.

Here it is on March 19, the same time the garlic bulbs were sending up their first shoots and the crocuses were blooming:

Here it is on June 20, finally browning!

I kept it until 12/11, when I needed the base for my new tree!