Goodbye, Charlie Brown

In our last post we mentioned that we had adopted a Charlie Brown tree, that hapless and precarious, but lovable, bundle of sticks for which a single ornament is life-threatening. The tree was, sadly, with us for only a day before going back whence it had come. We admit that this was entirely due to our inability to be without a REAL tree -- that is, a fake tree that at least pretends to be the real thing. We exchanged Charlie Brown for a sleek, slim fir that is too tall for the room but which -- this is important -- can accommodate many presents underneath. But perhaps most important, all our ornaments fit on it, which allows us to avoid the effort of paring down our collection. Someday we might even post a photo of it.