The Holidays were long past. Most everyone had taken the lights and decorations off of their homes.

“I must take this tree out of my house,” muttered StickFiggy. “It is getting so late!”

The Tree watched him take all of the shiny ornaments down from its branches. All except for the bright star at the tip-top.

But that fell off anyway.

“There! Enjoy the fresh air.” He marched off with his signature purposeful stride.

“Ok,” thought the Tree, “but now I am all alone except for this big blue box.”

“YUM! I am The Trash, and I look forward to eating you,” it said with a bang of its lid.

“Oh no! Not me- I am the celebrated beautiful Christmas Tree! StickFiggy kept me in his house. This cannot be possible!” But The Trash couldn’t hear the tree’s quiet thoughts  and nothing could be done.

Hours came and went. The Tree’s branches drooped in despair. Maybe The Garbage was right.

Not too far away, a pile of dirt grew bigger and bigger next to a hole in the ground.

“I am digging, I love digging,” sang StickFiggy. His voice sounded very far away because he was in the hole which was so deep that only his shovel  could be seen.

Out of the hole and off with a red wheelbarrow, StickFiggy raced back to his house and to the spot where he had left the Tree.

With the still sad looking Tree in the wheelbarrow, StickFiggy ran almost as fast- though the tree was quite heavy- back to where he had been.

“Hey! What about my dinner of yummy tree,” yelled The Trash.

“Nope. This is not for you.” StickFiggy answered.

“Look Tree, look!” StickFiggy pointed  to the nice hole in the ground.

The Tree rustled with delight and hopped up to get a better view.

In fact, it leapt right into the hole before StickFiggy could do a thing.

But it did need a little help.

So StickFiggy put a little more dirt around the Tree’s roots and patted the earth into a nice cosy mound at its trunk.

“Voila- all done beautiful tree. Thank you for being inside with me for all those weeks and wearing my special Christmas ornaments”

The Tree was very pleased and felt lovelier than ever.