I bought a Christmas tree today.

Let the Christmas-ing commence.

Didn’t say it was a big one. It’s a Dwarf Alberta Spruce that currently fits on my dining room table. It’s alive, which makes me feel better.

I rather like the idea of getting a little live Christmas tree each year and then, someday, when I’m all growed up, planting it in the backyard after Christmas.

This does bring up the question: Where will Santa put all the presents?

I don’t know how Santa will be in in the Christmases to come. I grew up thinking there was only one way to do Christmas, but recent years have shown that I might want to foster a different kind of tradition for my own family.

Time will tell, as it always does, and the children who will pick out the perfect plate for Santa’s cookies and Rudolph’s carrot are the merest gleam in my eye right now. In the meantime, I am happy with my little bitty tree — I think I’ll call her Al — and looking forward to decorating my own home for the holidays for the first time…ever.