Goodbye, Christmas Tree. Hello Pine Needle Free Home.

I promise, promise, promise I'm not the type of girl to take down her Christmas tree on January 1st. Because I love Christmas. And taking down the tree is basically acknowledging that Christmas is done and over with and it's another year until the next one.

But this year, I did it. Our tree was gone less than 18 hours into the New Year.

And, strangely, it feels good.

Yes, I know I'm more than a little late sharing this tale.

The reason our tree didn't make it far into 2014 is because three strings of lights burned out and I forgot to water it for like, I dunno, eight days. It was dunzo.

I did use a Christmas tree bag for easier removal this year. While it didn't make the removal much easier or cleaner, it kept inflating under our ceiling fan and that made me smile.

What surprises me is how refreshing it is to be sans tree. As much as I love Christmas, no one can tell me the house doesn't immediately feel cleaner once the tree has hit the curb.

And it doesn't hurt that we moved around some furniture to make our living room feel more, for lack of a better word, permanent. I finally wised up and realized that the new entertainment center I've been dreaming of is at least a few months away. I've been trying to pull together the contents of our new set-up, but pictures will be coming soon.

Promise.