New Year resolution II

Farewell to a good friend.
A member of the family almost. I remember vividly the excitement in the kids' eyes when we welcomed him into our home a little over 4 weeks ago.
He has been the perfect guest, standing straight, green and proud in the middle of the sitting room.
Never a word louder than the other, he preferred to stay there and release both his powerful and discreet Christmas tree smell.
Luca and Mr Tree immediately clicked and upon his arrival Luca was the self-appointed Grand Defender of the Decorations. He managed to foil his sister Mimi's many plots to interfere with the said decorations (anything from the obvious grab and run to the more cunning "oh look at that on the telly-pull gently-flutter of the eyelashes" technique.
Mr Tree assumed his responsibilities with constant professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication.

Today we took him to the recycling centre and hastily threw him on a growing pile of similarly discarded Christmas trees.

For some reason, I now understand much better the way my employer, "the Company", works on a daily basis.