All I Want for Christmas...

... is a block of wood. About eight inches tall, wide enough to stand without wobbling, with a hole drilled down the middle that will hold the post of this tree:

This pic is a few years old, but that's pretty much what it still looks like.

You see, I used to have exactly that block of wood. It was the tree stand for this tree. At some point during one of my moves, the block of wood parted company with the rest of the tree. Goodness knows where it is now.

This tree, as you've noticed, is not so big. The first year that I was away from my family for Christmas, I only got a two-week break to come home, and we had to be back on New Year's Eve. Since I was spending most of the holiday season not at home where the tree lived, my grandpa was a bit distressed and decided I needed a tree.

He kept the top section of the "some assembly required" tree he and my grandma were tossing out that year, drilled a hole in a block of wood for a tree stand, and as the finishing touch, wrapped a few other wood scraps in wrapping paper to be the presents under the tree. (I still have them. They're under our tree right now.) Then he grabbed up a couple of old ornaments (I still have all of those, too), put the lot into a box, and presented it to me at Thanksgiving. Christmas tree kit, just add a space on an end table.

The taller tree. Also from a few years ago. The fake presents are the stripey things at the bottom.

My roommate and I loved it. Chadwick and I love it. Even though we now have too many ornaments for this tiny tree, and bought our own slightly-less-tiny three-foot tree about eight years ago, this tree still goes up every year. Even though I have to get creative about its stand.

Merry Christmas to you.