Our First Christmas...Tree

Actually, Mr. P and I are spending our sixth Christmas together this year, and our third living together. He's pushed and pushed for a tree, but we've never gotten one. I guess it just hasn't been that big a priority.

This year in particular, things are a little tight, but we always make it work. It's always been about being with each other - not how much we do (or don't) have. After all the hard work Mr. P's put into school, I felt like I needed to do something special for him. So...(gulp)...I went to the dreaded Wal-Mart. And I bought our first Christmas tree, a 4' pre-lit Indiana spruce:

not our apartment, and our tree looks a little more Charlie Brown-esque!

Mr. P called on his way home from a night class, and the first thing I said was, "I got you something but I'm afraid you won't like it and if you don't that's OK because I'll just take it back it's not the end of the world." Yes, all one sentence, all one breath, no pauses! I mean really, the tree's kinda Charlie Brown. And the second Mr. P walked in the door, his eyes lit up and he had one of the biggest smiles I've seen in a long time. I guess I did alright, huh? :)

It should be said that our apartment is pretty small - less than 700 square feet! So in order to find a place for this crazy tree, we cleared off a side table and set it there. Now, it looks more like a 6.5' tree :) And then it came time to decorate...so we gathered together the ornaments we've collected over the past few years and put them on the tree. There are two fair-trade snowflakes (courtesy of Margaret), a Mizzou balloon (courtesy of my folks), a big red ball (SOOO Charlie Brown), and two angels. We have no idea where the angels came from :)


Did you know they actually SELL these? I mean, I know I'm exaggerating about ours a little, but really?! People BUY these!!!

So now you're picturing this 4' (or sorta 6.5') tree with a total of 5 ornaments - I swear we had more than that! It's pretty sad, really. So sad that it makes me smile because it really does represent our building a life together...bit, by bit, by bit...and because of that, I'm actually very proud of our tree. Starting out together, spending our first Christmas as a married couple together...it's a good feeling. It reminds me of the true intentions behind "holiday spirit" and de-emphasizes the commercialism of the season. All things considered - ups, downs, and the chaos that is life - I've got it good. I just needed a silly tree to help me remember.

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!