Christmas Tree Success Secret

Thursday, December 25 2014

Seems pretty severe and unbelievable, doesn't it? That there could be a "secret" having to do with your Christmas tree that can make or break your success for all of the upcoming 2015 year?

Yep, it's true. And no, I didn't believe it at first either. It seemed more like an old wives tale than anything until I actually started to take notice of what happened with and without the Christmas tree.

It was Christmas 2010 when I first noticed. A little birdie (who we'll call Ron Espinoza) told me that if you take your Christmas tree down before the New Year then you'll have "bad luck" all that year. But...if you keep your tree up until AFTER the New Year then you'll have "good luck" for the entire year.

I laughed. How stupid is that concept?!

Then I noticed...or maybe allowed the "belief" of this new information to settle in. For Christmas 2010, I had my brother and his kids sleep over. For anyone who knows my brother, they'd know him as a neat freak who likes to clean, put stuff away, and even throw away things that we still need (such as storage boxes, etc.) because he hates clutter. So...on Christmas Day -- yes, you read that correctly -- he took down my Christmas tree right after everyone opened all their gifts. The tree and every reminiscence of Christmas was gone by Christmas afternoon.

Fast forward to 2011...starting with the first quarter of the year, to be exact. I got the fiscal crap beat out of me in family court by getting hammered with an ungodly sum of child and spousal support payments from my greedy 2nd hubby. This, of course, was after I signed off on the last of my remaining partnerships (as to not have to go into personal bankruptcy) so that the greedy jerk wouldn't get half of my millions in property equity. That capped off the loss of over $7,000,000.

Progressing into the second quarter of 2011...I found out that my dad was embezzling from my company. And if that wasn't bad enough, so was my trusted assistant at the time. During this time I decided (probably inappropriately) to get married to hubby #3. (That didn't end well.)

The final two quarters of the year were a blur. I was exhausted, miserable, hating life (and everyone in it), and treading water in every way imaginable. I moved my warehouse during this time into an energy-sucking vortex of a building that was, of all things, haunted to boot; this is where the remaining balance of my energy and enthusiasm evaporated each moment I stayed there. Eventually it would disappear to nearly nothing.

By Christmas of 2011, I still wasn't convinced about the Christmas tree thing. The little birdie reminded me about it...again. I'm like...so what? I put up a pop-up tree that takes about 60 seconds to put up and 30 seconds to take down. Disgusted at how horrible 2011 was, I wanted it to end, starting with taking down the tree quickly! It was gone and out of my house by the next morning.

You can imagine that 2012 probably wasn't that great either. It wasn't bad from a financial standpoint, as I'm lucky to always have the "magical" ability to make money. But my personal life was in shambles. It seemed that every moment of that year, every cell in my body was feeling some level of deep emotional depression. It wasn't a great year either but certainly not as traumatic as 2011.

So...Christmas 2012: I left the freaking tree up. Yes, I left it up over New Year's Eve and even several days past the New Year. (I know. Talk about living "dangerously" and living on the edge, right?)

How did 2013 turn out? Freaking fantastic in every way. Sure, I was still going through my emotional pain and filed for divorce later that year. But it was still good and I knew things would get better.

I left the tree up over the New Year from 2013 to 2014.

What happened with 2014?

This year has been AMAZING!!

Okay, so my divorce from who I feel is the love of my life was finalized on St. Paddy's Day but I feel fantastic. I turned 40 this year and it's been an amazing year financially, physically, mentally, and even emotionally where it's been hurting the most all these years. I feel more empowered and...it's been amazing.

So...will I be leaving my Christmas tree up between now and next week? You bet I will! Planned date for Christmas tree disassembly and storage will be 1/4/2015.

And I plan on 2015 being my best freaking year yet due to a very important contract I just signed last week (that I won't tell you about until sometime next month). And no, it's not a property deal contract.

Thinking back, I tried to remember what I did with my tree during the Christmas of 2009. Come to think of it, it was a live tree. My lazy 2nd hubby wouldn't take it down because the stump was stuck in the metal base part that holds it up. So the tree not only stayed up over that New Year's Eve but I seem to remember the freaking tree stump stuck in the base sitting on our back porch well into spring when my brother had to take a hack saw to it.

And 2010 was one of my best financial years ever!

Think twice about taking your Christmas tree down before the first of the year. In fact, to be safe, wait until the first weekend of the new year before taking it down. Then you'll have a kick ass 2015 like I will.

Superstitious? I don't know. Who cares? What do you have to lose by waiting to take your tree down until after January 1st?

And think about it: what if I'm right about everything I just said? Wouldn't it be worth it to just wait and see what happens?? (I think so!)