Our Christmas tree wasn’t entirely dried up. Not by a long shot.  It was still green and beautiful. It still lit our living room with the glow of tiny lights each evening when the sun set.

But it was time to move on. The tree was causing problems.

The new year under way, I am striving to stick to a number of resolutions. Eating better, staying more organized, making sure to write each day. No earthquakes. Just small adjustments. Exercises in mindfulness.

And yet that tree, smiling in the corner with its festive holiday glow, was a steady reminder of the warm, slow days of holiday bliss. It kept luring me back to the end of 2013, when days were meant to be wasted, bodies were meant to be at rest, and holiday cookies were meant to be eaten.

But the new year has come, and it is time for a new set of reminders.

The tree would not cooperate and so I took matters into my own hands.

I won’t say good riddance, because I loved that tree. It was the biggest one we’ve ever had. (Suddenly the living room feels enormous).

But I’m ready for this new year, which has been arriving slowly, every day a little bit more. I think by the end of next week I’ll be ready to accept that it’s 2014.

It may be starting slow, but it will be a good year, I think. I feel the stars aligning.

Thanks, tree, for seeing us through the bridge between the old and new.