Christmas without a tree?

We were married about a month before Christmas many years ago. It was not the idyllic, romantic first Christmas you might imagine. The woodworker belonged to a Navy Reserve unit far, far from the ocean, in the middle of a desert region. When he went to his 2 week annual training, it meant going to an ocean. His annual training that year was scheduled for the weeks including Christmas.

In order to spend some time together, we decided we'd both go to Long Beach, California, for his training. Our friends, Pete and Vicki lived there, so I could stay with them, and once in a while, so could the woodworker. Pete had just recently finished school and now they had purchased their first modest home. It had a spare bedroom, but the bedroom had no furnishings, so we loaded our mattress and springs into the back of our truck and headed to Long Beach.

I've always lived far enough to the north that Christmas and snow just seem like they must go together. Needless to say, there was no snow in Long Beach. It just didn't feel quite like Christmas.

Then Pete and Vicki dropped the bombshell. They decided Christmas trees were just too expensive and decided they would just not have one! After a quick conversation when the woodworker had a few hours off one day, we went and found a nice little Christmas tree and took it home to Pete's and Vicki's. They were excited to have a tree after all, and quickly set about finding where they had stored their few ornaments. Since they had two active little boys, we ended up putting the tree up inside the playpen.

It was our first Christmas as a married couple, staying in someone else's home, but at least we finally had a tree....and each other...as the Navy gave the woodworker the day off!