[issybird]

I put up my tree today and am in the process of trimming it. I prefer real trees, but prelit fake ones are so much easier and cheaper in the long run that I got seduced several years ago. I admit this tree is looking rather seedy, but I contend it's part of its charm.

Trimming the tree is always somewhat melancholy. Some of the ornaments go back to when I was small and no matter how tarnished, on the tree they go. And the first thing I put on it every year is an angel my oldest nephew made when he was little; he died of cancer twelve years ago.