I know it seems crazy to some, but that tree was up for almost a whole month!  I thought that it was going to be a little extra busy this year with the new baby coming, so I started getting ready for the holiday earlier than usual.  By the time Christmas rolled around, the tree was so dry.  It had a funky smell and the branches broke off just by touching them.  The once perky branches were hanging as low as they could go, ornaments were falling, it was a mess.  It had to go.  Soon.  So the morning of the 26th, we tore it down.  It was trash day.  The recycling said they would pick them up, up to 8 ft, so John had to cut off the top for them to accept it. Kind of sad, but it had to be.  Goodbye tree.