For a number of years now, I’ve not had a Christmas Tree. Since I am renting a room, it’s not like I had a house to decorate. All of my ornaments are in storage, and, well, it’s just not been a pressing issue. Besides, my current landlord does a pretty good tree and I’ve been able to enjoy it.
This year, however, I realized I wanted a tree, and some decorations. Had to be small as it needed to be in my room, and for some reason a part of me wanted a Charlie Brown tree. So, I started keeping my eyes open and finally found a small tree, not even two feet tall, that fit the bill. With the limbs all tight and up, it even looked a bit like the part. All of $5.94 it was too.
This is what it looked like after I got it home and started getting the limbs down. The Linus treatment had it starting to look much better.
Then, I found some battery-powered LED lights for about $5 and got them in the mix. I could have gotten a longer string, but it both cost more and I really didn’t want to overdo the lights. Maybe next year, but I’m sort of liking the minimalist approach.
Next up, I found a box of gold ornaments for $2.99, and what makes a nice tree skirt also for $2.99. Finally, I bought four nicer ornaments from the bookstore at the Church I’ve been attending for $3 each. Since I couldn’t find a star to go on top (even growing up Methodist I really didn’t think it was a good idea to symbolically impale an Angel) I got an ornament that features the Madonna and Child to go up top. The others I got just because they were pretty and I’m a little OCD on some aspects of symmetry.
So, I didn’t break the bank and have something bright and joyful for Christmas. A reminder of the season and the reason for the season.