Christmas roadkill

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by JOHN EDMONDS

Now that Christmas is over and done with, Montrealers are being treated to the sight of a small dead evergreen forest scattered in back alleys and roadways throughout the city.

Every year in mid-January, city public works crews make the rounds specifically to collect old Christmas trees--usually about 20,000 of them. But it seems people just can't wait that long to get rid of their trees, so they put them out and leave them out. Smaller trees like the one pictured here are being windswept into streets and getting crushed by passing cars.

In case you're wondering, there is a reason for the mid-January tree-collection date: it's always the first Wednesday after the Feast of the Epiphany, which marks the day when the three wise kings arrived in Bethlehem. This year the collection was supposed to happen on January 12, but snow-removal operations forced its postponement until next Wednesday, January 19. Public works officials urge Montrealers to get their trees off the streets until then. : --Philip Preville

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