Oh, Christmas Tree…

This past week, I’ve been having a debate with myself over whether to buy a new Christmas tree or not.

For the past decade, Dave and I have had this stupid little 3 foot tree that we got for free from our old company when it was closing. It was a cheap thing, and as the years went by, it just kept getting crappier and crappier.

Exhibit A- the half-assed lighting situation

Exhibit B – the crooked, too-big star, the overloaded branches…

Last year, I had enough. Once the holidays were over, I threw it in the trash. It was very satisfying. I figured I’d worry about getting another tree next Christmas.

Well, next Christmas is here, and we’ve looked at trees at Target, Home Depot, Ocean State Job Lots, Walmart, even Amazon… and I can’t seem to bring myself to pay $25 for another dumb-looking 3 foot fake tree. I’m definitely not paying more for an even larger tree, no matter how nice it looks.

We live in a tiny house – less than 800 square feet. Despite my attempts at minimizing, we still have too much stuff. When Christmastime rolls around, of course it’s nice to put up some decorations to get the place in a holiday mood, but it’s basically adding more clutter.

Not to mention, there are 11 months of the year where the tree and all it’s decor have to sit in a box somewhere, taking up precious space.

Maybe this year we’ll just stick with the old ceramic tree I inherited… It takes about 30 seconds to set up. It’s a gentle reminder of Christmases past, and it adds a festive look to the room, all without the stress of crooked stars and strands of lights that decide to go dark after you put them on the tree.

We do have plenty of other holiday decor – yards of fake greenery, plenty of lights, families of fake snowmen and a platoon of nutcracker soldiers – we can still be festive without a tree.

Well, I guess that settles it. We’re going treeless this Christmas!