VIDALIA — Christmas has come and passed, and now the tree is beginning to look a little sad around the edges. But what to do with it?

While many in the unincorporated areas of the Miss-Lou may take the opportunity to turn their Christmas tree into a New Year’s Eve bonfire, that isn’t a legal option for those who live in the city limits.

For Vidalians, the answer is as easy as dragging the tree to the curb.

“We will take it and chip it right there,” Vidalia Street Department head Lee Staggs said.

Those with a green thumb can take those chips in turn and add them to their compost heap to make flower gardening mulch.

For those who might not want all of those woodchips, some of the larger branches can be chopped and bundled to provide protective winter mulch around newly planted perennials.

In Natchez, those who want to dispose of their trees need to make sure none of the branches are longer than four feet, and the branches also need to be bundled.

Limbs and other tree debris need to be fewer than four inches in diameter.

Most years, the Vidalia street department does not even see the trees hit the curb, Staggs said.

“A lot of fishermen will go through the area ahead of us and collect them,” he said.

A former fisherman himself, Staggs said tying an anchor to the top of the tree and then hanging it under a pier will attract small baitfish.

“Those fish will then attract larger fish like white perch to the area,” he said.