Everyone can relax now, our house is officially ready for Christmas.

Tonight my second roommate inquired about whether I was going to put up my tree, so I made the massive effort to make that happen.  Actually, it took about 10 minutes, but let’s pretend I put a lot into it.

Part of me really hates this tree because it’s fake and doesn’t have that Christmas tree smell.  The other part of me enjoys how easy it is to set up and later put away.  I also kind of like its humbleness.

I got it when I was living down in Florida making less money at a TV news job than I did selling shoes at the mall.  To put things in perspective, the snack I would bring to work most days was rice with a few pieces of frozen vegetables mixed in, and my diet relied heavily on hot dogs that came 10 for a dollar.  So when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to go home for the holidays and decided I needed at least something Christmasy to cheer me up, I went to Target and got the cheapest tree they had.  I think it cost me roughly $14.

Of course things are better now, and while I could go in a new direction, there’s something to be said for the memories of this one and its single strand of lights:

Yes, I could have framed this picture better, but that would have required getting up out of the chair

The real question will be how long we leave it up this year.  Last time it stayed around until at least February.

Enjoy the season.