It's so nice that the simplest things in the world can change your whole mood about life.

Last night Cindy and I went for a drive (in the 70 degree weather mind you) to check out all of the houses that were decorated already for the holiday season. Some were tastefully done, some were obviously homes to the relatives of Clark W Griswold. And with the small sized lots most houses in this neighborhood have, I believe you could actually go blind if you got too close to the cheer that they put in their yards.

This is my new Christmas tree. It's a bit sparse (what do you want for $14.99 at Walgreens?) but it's here, it's up and it's got the white lights on it that I like. To me there is nothing more comforting than relaxing in a semi dark room just staring into the tree lights. The best way to do this is with family. I'm 35 and my sister is 39 - we still sit around at the holidays and reminisce about Christmases past. My sister and I would sleep together every Christmas Eve and take turns creeping down the stairs to see what Santa had left under the tree. We'd get down there, survey the goods and get back upstairs (hopefully without getting caught) to the room and report all the we could see. One memory that always gets mentioned is the Christmas where we stayed up most of the night and my sister drilled me on my multiplication tables to pass the time. When we were younger we would stay up half the night, excited and giddy about what was under that tree - by 5 or 6 in the morning (some years earlier) we'd be excited to the point of bursting. Mom and Dad would lay in that bed and we'd BEG them to let us go downstairs. Dad would joke with us that maybe they'd sleep in and mom would grouch at us from under her pillows. Regardless, we weren't allowed to look at anything or open anything until the family was present and accounted for - and mom had her cup of coffee in hand.

As we grew older we all moved apart. I started working retail and my sister became a nurse. It was harder for us to come up with a schedule that allowed us all to be together ON the actual holiday. So we started getting together on weekends before the holidays and making our Christmas then. It was only just a few years ago when I realized that it didn't matter to me if we were together on the actual day - as long as we got together at some point during the holidays and made a day "our" Christmas.

We have lots of good memories of Christmas past and although I'm sad to be away from my family during my favorite time of the year, this little $14.99 Christmas tree will bring me a very simple joy.