A few weeks ago I saw a six-foot red Christmas tree at Sears. I liked it, which wouldn’t have been the case even two years ago as back then I did not care for tall trees in any colour other than green. However last year I got a two-foot fibre optic red tree, and it looks quite impressive on my landing, surrounded by small foil-wrapped presents. When I saw the six-foot tree I was interested in buying it, but the price was $130 and I wasn’t about to pay that for it.

Two weeks ago Sears had the same tree on sale for half price. The Square One mall near me had only one left, yet there was a small chip in the red pot. I managed to get an extra ten dollars off the price for this small defect, which is totally invisible when you see the way I have it displayed in my front lobby:

Santa Claus is almost always depicted as a Caucasian. I have long been interested in acquiring multicultural ornaments for my house and tree. Over the past eight years (the number of years I have been living in a house and have had the room for a tree and all of this Christmas stuff) I have found many black Santas and angel ornaments. Some of them are displayed on the top of my CD cabinet:

The middle Santa is black, although his face is obscured by his hat and beard. The two Santas on the left and right are in close-up:

The Caucasian Santas have been in my family for decades. My mother had them when she was a girl. I also have black Santa and angel ornaments on my tree.

I will take more pictures when I have presents under the tree. I do not like an empty area under the tree, so I decorate underneath it as well. I place vintage Christmas light boxes, boxes from Eaton’s and Simpson’s, small stuffed animals, Christmas books and my Santa climbing a ladder all under or beside my tree.