A few years ago, I seemed so intent on keeping the holiday spirit going that I kept my Christmas tree until February. Needless to say, when I finally got around to taking it out, the thing was a mess of dry needles that ended up all over my floor. All told, that was the least of the bad things that could have happened — that tree was certainly something of a fire hazard.

The point of this is that you don’t have to be like me. Get rid of your Christmas tree early! The District is making it easy, too. From January 3-14, you can leave your tree on the curb outside your building or house and it will be picked up and used for mulch. After that, you’ll just have to leave it with the trash.