Time to say goodbye to your Natick Christmas tree

Here’s an epiphany for you: there’s absolutely no disposing of Christmas trees and other holiday greenery in parks and conservation areas in Natick. It might seem like tossing nature into nature, but it’s actually illegal and bad for the environment. It’s also aesthetically displeasing. You know it’s going to take that tree about ten years to break down into the soil, right?

How to say good-bye, fine firs

Fortunately, the Natick Department of Public Works makes it super-easy to dispose of your tree properly, with the curbside collection program.  Curbside collection of Christmas trees is scheduled for the first two full weeks in January on your regular trash collection day (the weeks of January 4th and January 11th). Trees should be bare, free from ornaments, and with no bags. Follow those simple rules, and the DPW will make your tree disappear.

Fire it up

At our house we observe a highly personalized Christmas tree ceremony each year. First, we take the tree away from the only field it’s ever known, and we set it up in our heated house. Next, we lavish the tree with ornate trappings. After a few weeks we declare that we “need our living room back.” We then strip the tree of its ornate trappings and evict it from our home. Months later, we set the Christmas tree on fire. A merry tradition, indeed.

You can do the same starting this month. Just make sure you get an open air burning permit. Stop in to the Natick Fire Department headquarters at 22 E. Central Street to fill out the easy paperwork. The burn season runs Jan. 15 through May 1, and you must obtain permission from the NFD each day that you wish to burn. Weather conditions are taken into consideration when determining if burning will be allowed each day.