Natalie and I traveled to my brothers house, in Clermont Fl, to celebrate Christmas this year. It was a good time.

On a completely different note, Natalie and I decided not to buy a Christmas tree this year. As we have never purchased a Christmas tree before, this was not a hard decision. Last year however, Natalie and I decorated our apartment for Christmas by using a small artificial tree that I had obtained during my childhood. The tree did not come to Colorado with us. As a result, Christmas left us with a bit of a conundrum.

Our Paper Mache Christmas tree. Hold the applause.

We had no Christmas tree.

We had no Christmas decorations.

We did not want a real tree (not enough room).

We did not want a fake tree (if we had wanted to move a fake tree all around the country we would have brought the one we had with us).

With this problem firmly in mind, Natalie decided to make us a Christmas tree out of paper mache. I was skeptical. At the same time, with the tree created and painted, I had to admit that a Christmas tree, made out of cardboard, newspaper, flour, and water, was in fact a viable alternative.

To make the tree more interesting, Natalie and I decided to “make” our own decorations. By “make” I mean that Natalie made a variety of cool deocrations and I rummaged through the apartment looking for small things that I could hang on the tree. Like a bottle opener.

All in all, the tree greatly increased the about of Christmas joy in our apartment. Success!