a farewell to a lovely tree.

well,

our tree is down.

When we found it on top of the snowy mountain in salmon idaho,  i wasn't too impressed to be honest.

It was quite small. About 3 1/2 feet. It had few branches. What few branches it did possess, they would shed pine needles insistently. The tree was sappy, and I was skeptical that it's trunk was thick enough to fit any tree stand. However, we had cut it down, and it deserved a fair shot into our tiny apartment.

 When we pulled it out of the trunk from the long trip, our little 2011 christmas tree looked even sadder than it had on the grand snowy mountain. The trip from salmon had claimed a few more hundred of it's pine needles, and it maintained the shape it held during the road trip. I was right- it was too small to fit into even the custom sized tree stand. The circumference of the trunk was about as big as my lower arm. We used a large glass votive filled with rocks to stabilize the trunk and water to give a little life to the almost lifeless plant. It seemed fine. Small, but stable. We had to use less lights, and only the lightest of ornaments.

The night after we set it up it fell down around 4 in the morning. Gid and I flew out of bed to rescue our carpet and fake wood floors. Luckily- nothing broke, nothing was damaged, and after a few minutes of wiping with towels and setting up a fan, we crawled back into our warm bed.

The next day we set it up again. Gid put nails into the lovely cinderblock walls, and fastened the tiny tree trunk to the nails with yarn. We never had a problem with it again for the rest of the holidays. It was bold for us to leave it, unattended for almost three weeks straight, but the tree stayed steadfast.

Every day that its been up, I've left the christmas lights on the tree (and on the snowflake garland) regardless what time of day it is. It gleamed back at me, sneakily charming its way into my heart, replacing the soft spot I have for going out and buying a nice full 5 foot tree at a city christmas tree farm.

It was painfully short. Sadly scrawny. It shed countless needles. My walls had a thin, yet stubborn splotch of sap that needed to be cleaned. We spent a few hours last night vacuuming and scrubbing the aftermath of the tree.

Oh, how I miss it.

I never realized how sad the corner was before the little tree graced it with the fragrant scent of pine, tiny white lights, glittering ornaments, and cheerful holly berries. Has our apartment always been so bare in that corner?

Oh sweet christmas tree of 2011:

you will be sorely missed. and you are dear to my heart. the end.

Happy Monday to you all, dear friends.