Christmas has officially ended

This weekend I finally took down my Christmas tree--um yes it was a little late, but it was my first chance!! Last weekend we painted Taylor's room, and the weekend before that we were returning from the cabin....(I wish I was there!!) Anyways....typically I'm always sad to take down my tree; I remember as a kid, crying when my mom took ours down!! But this year, I put it up 1st weekend in December (that was the only time I had to do it other than 1 week before Christmas) and then left it up until the middle of January, which gave me a good 6 weeks of Christmas tree enjoyment. And that was plenty--no tears of sadness for me when I took it down!!
I have always been one to insist on a real tree and refused to even consider a fake, but last year I took the plunge and bought a brand new, fake prelit tree with a remote, all for $50!!! I have to say, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be:

1. I don't have to crawl under it to check the water
2. I don't have to try and water it without spilling any on the presents
3. I don't have to risk buying a real one and having it begin dropping needles 3 days later
4. I don't have to tie it to the wall/ceiling in order to keep it from falling down
5. I don't get sap all over myself
6. I don't have to manuever myself between it and the wall to unplug the lights (because I have a handy dandy remote!!)
7. I can set it up early and take it down late to get my fill of Christmas tree viewing
8. -40 has no bearing on whether I can go and get my tree

HOWEVER

1. I miss the smell of a 'real' tree
2. I miss going out and getting a 'real' tree -as long as it's not -40!!
3. I miss the uniqueness of a different tree
4. I didn't have to try and fit a' real' one back into the box!!