Oh, Christmas tree!

Over the past few weeks in San Francisco, the city streets have been lined with stripped, discarded Christmas trees just kicked to the curb. Some were abandoned and left in the gutters right after New Year's, still looking fresh and green, to be hauled away with the other "garbage." The other day I saw two trees sticking out from the back of a garbage truck -- so heartbreaking.

My fiancé tells me that it's not so bad, that Christmas trees are farmed now. Still, I can't help but think what a shame it is to throw away a live tree. I know, I know, it's been cut and no longer has any hope, but at least let it stay beautifully decorated with ornaments and lights until it's ready to go off to Christmas tree heaven.

This past Christmas was the first one my fiancé and I celebrated alone together. We'd always gone home to our families every year, but this year we decided to stay in San Francisco to save money for our wedding in February.

To help us get into the spirit of the holidays, I decorated our living room with white lights and some other ornaments my mom had sent with me when I moved to San Francisco.

It being our first Christmas together, I also wanted to have a tree to decorate. While shopping for Christmas dinner fixings, I came across a live tabletop tree, still in a planter. It was perfect! (Although, at first, it reminded me of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree -- a bit pitiful as it leaned awkwardly to one side.)

But we decorated it together, and I have to say it turned out lovely.



I'm hoping that the tree will flourish in our little humble abode until one day we have a backyard to plant it in. Then, we can show our kids our first Christmas tree, still alive, growing and doing well.