We took the outdoor Christmas decorations down and packed them away today. Still need to pack the inside ones. It's time to retire our old Christmas tree, or pass it on to someone else willing to deal with its problems. I don't know how long we've had it--15 years? Maybe 20? The plastic brackets that hold the limbs on are brittle, and more of them break every year. And the lights are suffering from corrosion, and one bad connection makes a whole string go dark. Fixing it is very labor-intensive.
We already have the replacement tree, which is skinnier and has only white lights. Things will look different next Christmas.
