Pre-Christmas Tree

Well, here it is, mid-December already and my blogging has really gone by the wayside. Much of my computer time these days is spent doing edits of Kiva loan descriptions, and of course lately I've been Christmas shopping online. There are winter projects lined up, too, involving a personal recipe book I've been working on for years and also the Dropbox photo albums Marty and I have been trying to find time for. Good thing I'm going to live forever!
I bit the bullet the other day and bought an artificial Christmas tree at WalMart. I never thought I would do such an awful thing. Christmas trees have to be REAL trees, preferably a LIVE tree, right?! However, we've not had any kind of tree for the last 2 or 3 years, and it just got too sad. Having no little children around changes the character of the holiday season entirely, and I guess that was my excuse. During those "off" years, though, it was nice to rid myself of all the "shoulds" and "oughts" that used to surround Christmas.
Anyway, here it is. THE TREE. Pretty poor excuse, but better than nothing... that's all I can say. Maybe next year I'll have a better idea how to arrange the branches so it isn't all cattiwampus.
Now to get the shopping done. Groan. Oh, and the Christmas cards, too! Oops.