Our first year we were married our "tree" was a bough of holly purchased from Pikes Market. It adorned our tiny kitchen table in our tiny Seattle apartment. That was all.
When we lived in Honduras we ran into the issue of a national ban on pine-tree cutting, so we ended up buying what was essentially a shrubbery imported from somewhere and trimmed into a triangle shape. Excuse: We were homesick, and we wanted to feel as festive as possible.
There have been a couple of years in between then and now where we went all out and cut down a real tree on a farm. But last year we had just had Jude. He was one month old and we were bleary-eyed and unable to function as normal human beings. So again... no tree.
This year? Jude is old enough now to crawl right up to any novelty item placed in his play area (the living room) and pull it down, or at least pluck off an ornament of two and attempt to eat it. Also, we had a hectic Thanksgiving weekend and ran out of time for the typical tree-chopping-down ceremony that usually happens on the Friday after.
Soooo...behold, our lovely alternative:
That, my friends, is a tropical potted palm that was gifted to us a few years ago. Bethlehem was likely dotted with palm trees rather than evergreens, no? Plus some lovely mardis-gras-esque beads that I have re-purposed as a garland for our fireplace (below). These were purchased way back when for our Hondu-shrubbery.
We have one stocking. You can guess whose it is.
I never go nuts with the holiday decorating, but I do love how simple things look this year. A lot of fuss just adds to the chaos, and that we don't need.
