(rewrite of original post)

Today was a day off, so The Penpal came for a visit from Numazu. Together we assembled and decorated the small Christmas tree that my parents sent from Canada. When I was young, our family always had a big Christmas tree in the living room at my parents house, and somewhere along the way we got a small tree that we would set up in the basement. The small tree had been sitting in a box for years collecting dust.

Growing up, Christmas was an important family holiday. When I think of Christmas I think of presents, snow, turkey dinner, family, watching the Grinch (animated, not live action), midnight mass, and my dad’s famous Christmas morning breakfast. Christmas 2003 will be the first time I will not get to experience any of these things. Having a small Christmas tree will hopefully help to offset a bit of the homesickness.

The Penpal had never decorated a Christmas tree before, so we had fun working on it together, even though it took about 15 minutes from start to finish. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out before she had to return to Numazu.

Christmas won’t be the same this year, but at least my room is feeling a bit more Christmassy.

(I didn’t take a picture at the time – the attached pic is an example of the size of my small tree)