Decorating for the Holidays. Sort Of.

As the Christmas holiday is approaching, most people take on the tradition of decorating their houses.  Everyone expresses themselves a bit differently.  Lights, blow up lawn ornaments, window candles, fake snow, stockings - but whatever you choose to decorate your home with, there is always the centerpiece.  The Tree.

Practically every home celebrating the holiday has a tree.  If there are lights on the house, there is most likely a twinkle in a window.  Every large Christmas display has a tree.  The White House, Rockefeller Center, the Macy's at Lenox Mall in Atlanta (although that one looks particularly sad this year).  The best Christmas movies are about the tree - Charlie Brown, Christmas Vacation.  Need I go on?  Based on the importance of the tree in regards to holiday decorating, you have to ask yourself - Was a good faith effort in decorating really made if a tree is not present?

After all, where would you put the presents?  Does a stocking even matter if there is no tree?  Where would you put all those years worth of Hallmark ornaments?  What would be twinkling through the window as you drove up to the house late at night?

Considering this was the first year in our house, I had high hopes for our holiday decorating.  We started with a few of these on the outside of the house:

It may even seem to the casual neighbor that we know what we are doing.  What a step in the right direction!  You might actually start to look through our front windows for the familiar twinkling of the tree.  And......... Hmmmmm.  No twinkle. 

But surely we just put the tree toward the back of the house.  I mean, we must have a tree.  We obviously celebrate Christmas - we have candles and evergreen wreaths, for heaven's sake!

Unfortunately, the twinkle is not in the back of the house.  We have no tree.  Yes.  I said it.  No tree.  There was a executive decision made in our house.  (Not by me.  Or the cats.  That should narrow it down a bit for you.).  The decision to go treeless was made based on the fact that we would not be home most of December.  But does it really matter?  Santa still needs a place to put the presents and Hallmark still needs to stay in business.  And there would be no twinkle.  Gasp!

It almost seems like a crime to go without the tree.  Just a crime. 

Next year.  Next year, we'll have the best twinkle on the block.  Just you wait!