• The easiest way to get a dried and needle-dropping tree out of your house is to drag it (trunk first, of course!) out the door and clean up afterward.

• But... A less messy way is to wrap it around with an old sheet before you carry it outside!
    

Christmas tree recycling is a concept few give attention to - but why not consider keeping your denuded tree in use awhile longer? A dead Christmas tree can be recycled in various ways...

• First of all, if you have property where it would be appropriate... A few discarded trees piled together might make a welcome natural winter shelter for birds and other small critters.

• Christmas trees can be put to good use buffering eroding dunes along a sandy shoreline, too - lay them on their sides into troughs dug just outside the high water line, shovel on the dug-out sand to hold them in place, and let the winds fill in the rest.

• Cut off the branches - they make super-powerful kindling. (A little goes a long way - be careful!)

• Clip the tips of the branches off first and use them in potpourri.

• Capture the dry needles and sprinkle them over your garden paths.

• Use the branches as removable mulch for perennial beds. Evergreen boughs also make excellent weights for loose landscape mulch like straw. Or you could put them over your flower boxes planted with bulbs.

• With the branches cut off, the trunk might make a good bean pole for your garden. Perhaps your neighbors would donate their discarded trees to you too!

• You could also slice thin pieces of the trunk into rounds to make gift coasters or ornaments for another year.
    
• At the least, a "deceased" tree makes a wonderful bonfire! In our little mountain community, there's a tradition of folks gathering with a potluck meal to undecorate the town tree - and when that's done, it and all the others anyone wants to donate to the cause are burned to keep us warm as the daylight wanes.