Christmas decorating is an adventure when you’re living the travel life.
A few Saturdays ago I met a lovely young couple in the process of downsizing from a large apartment to a smaller one. “We have so much,” she lamented to me while he nodded and rolled his eyes. “You’d never believe it. Two Christmas trees, even! We’ve got to get it to Salvation Army or give it away… or something.”
“Oh, I’ll take it!” I blurted. I asked what they wanted for it, but they insisted on giving it away. About a week later, Amanda came by the office and dropped off the 6-foot artificial evergreen with a box of white fairy lights. I was beside myself with excitement because I’ve never had my own Christmas tree! … and I kind of wondered what the heck I’d gotten myself into.
Christmas trees aren’t practical for travelers. They’re barely practical for Americans who enjoy established lives in houses with closets and basements but always seem to lack enough storage space. And yet, I had been collecting photos of Houston’s beautifully decorated trees on my iPhone in an album bitterly titled “Christmas bling not mine”. I’d jumped for “mine” without much thought about practicalities.
“How will you get it home?” asked everyone. And to this day I’m still giving a standard “I don’t know” response and going on immediately to talk about how much fun I’m having decorating my very first Christmas tree.
I decided to decorate my tree with my favorite things: books, coffee, weird vintage things. I headed to an antique mall near me and paid too much for the perfect vintage book of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. (Trigger warning: what’s ahead may make book lovers cringe.) I ripped out the prettiest pages and splashed them with coffee grounds, then sliced the pages into ribbons to make a paper garland.
The book’s gold and green cover looked so beautiful I used it as tree topper in lieu of a bow.
Every tree should have a bird’s nest.
Of course, there had to be a way to get coffee on this Christmas tree. The tops came off these glass bulbs easily enough to drop a few beans in.
With a glittering gold ribbon as a final touch, my tree was done! Voila!
I don’t know how or if I’ll get this tree home. But were Christmas trees really meant to last forever? No, they were only meant to be enjoyed for a season. Before leaving town next week, I’ll enjoy every minute of my Christmas tree, transient though it is.
~ The Dauntless Princess ~