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Jenn - If I said "Been there, done that", I know it wouldn't make it any easier. However, having been there and done that (twice), I can tell you that you do whatever feels most comfortable for you. For us, we chose not to leave the tree up - which was a good thing because it would have been up almost two years. We did have Memo's presents under the tree and in fact they sat in the living room for some time even after we took the tree down. We felt it was only right to put them out since we had bought them for him, even though he wasn't home yet. Last year, I believe there were presents under the tree again for him again. Somehow not putting presents there for him was more painful than putting them out. (By the way, he's making out like a bandit this year with two year's worth of presents to open)
What we found through our two year odyssey through Guatemalan Judicial He** was that our lives had to continue if for not other reason than our other two sons. Now that's not to say that we didn't shed a tear (or two or twelve hundred) sitting in church on Christmas Eve, but we felt that to do otherwise was to be living our lives "on hold" and that wasn't fair to our other two sons or to us. Suzanne and I have never been the types to live our lives on hold and while it did at times still seem like that's what we were doing, we kept moving forward.
You do what you are comfortable doing - if that means leaving the tree up, then do it. I would add that the firefighter part of me says if you are using a live tree, please take it down as soon as possible though. You know how far along your case is and the probability of when your child may come home.
Follow your heart on this - you'll make the right decision.
Praying for you every day -
Mark
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