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Day 11: Mountaintop Fracking Christmas in July

"30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" 
Day 11: Personal Choice
YOUR CHOICE ---
1. MTR or MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL
2. GAS FRACTURING or Fracking
3. A tale of taking down the Christmas Tree in July…
Prompt Creator: April Sunday

         Funny thing - I have had to take down a Christmas tree in July. My mom is a particular attachment to Christmas trees. When I was three-years old, the family discovered that she was allergic to pine trees. Plastic trees became the central part of our family after that. Somehow, since the tree couldn't dry out, it kept staying up longer and longer. The ornaments would come down, but the tree would still be in the corner of the living room.

         That was difficult to explain to my friends. Why the tree still up past Easter? We got creative. Valenpine Tree became a staple. Shamrocks found their way between the branches. It was definitely a thing...

         We staged an intervention at the beginning of July. I stayed and held my mother's hand while my brothers took the branches out of the metal hooks and put them back into the box. My dad would cart the box back into the garage for the next five months. I think he slipped her an airplane-sized bottle of vodka when we weren't looking.

         It's been easier over the years. If we can get that tree down before June, it's a good year. Still, kind of hilarious. Ah families - putting the fun back in dysfunction.