The annual New Year’s Eve burn

Let’s burn down 2020 and welcome 2021 with a bang. I’m talking about the annual Peaks Island tradition of taking down our Christmas trees, dragging them to the shore and throwing them on the pyre. That’s right – the New Year’s Eve burn is your chance to let out your inner pyromaniac.

This year the burn felt particularly prosaic given all of the challenges that 2020 threw at us. On the last day of the year, a few island buddies gathered at Davies Cove, trees in hand. Appropriately socially-distanced, we took turns lighting our evergreens on fire.

Up In Smoke

Christmas trees, it turns out, go up like a candle. Seriously. If you’ve ever watched a Today Show special about fire prevention and your holiday tree, you’re familiar with how flammable a bone-dry conifer truly is. And to that point, I feel like I need to add a disclaimer on this blog: Kids, don’t try this at home. The following combustible activities were done under the supervision of semi-professional (eh, that’s a bit of a stretch…) island tree burners. To our credit, we did have a fire permit and a bucket of ice-cold seawater to douse any errant sparks should the need arise. It didn’t.

As I watched the series of evergreens go up in smoke, I tried to conjure up the trying points of this past year (and there were a lot), but also take note of the good things in 2020 (read: “Peaks Island election results” or “Calendar island hopping” or “The island scramble”). Here’s to hoping for many more high points in 2021: group get-togethers, far-flung travel (god, I miss it!), more shoulder-to-should collaboration at work and lots of opportunities to hug those we love. May the 2021 burn be more celebratory and less cathartic – I have a strong suspicion it will be.