we have a tree

Fresh-cut Christmas trees, the ones that shed needles and dry out faster than it takes my kids to empty out a stocking, are available here in Tokyo -- if you're willing to shell out some serious cash. But I didn't want to spend $200 on the same thing we got last year at Peas & Pickles on Henry Street for $50.

So I felt lucky when the lady at the plant shop next to the cemetery down the hill showed me this one, priced somewhere in between...
It's adorable, right? And tall. (Taller than me, anyway.) Who cares that it's a little misshapen?

It felt good to carry it home on our backs (well, I carried it on my back, or sort of balanced it over one shoulder, after Conor tired of holding up the front end - and it was early on a Wednesday evening and Terry was still at work) because that's what we would do back home -- go to the corner bodega, pick something out, and start walking. And because we said no thanks to home delivery, the shopkeeper threw in this little poinsettia for free.

Now we just need some lights. And some ornaments. And maybe a skirt of fake snow.