Deck the Shrub

It's finally raining. You don't know how happy that makes me. For the longest time, it's just been sunny blueskies and weather that doesn't require a jacket. That is not the type of thing I need to put me in the Christmas spirit. But the weather is finally shaping up! I can really get my Christmas on now.

Yes. It's time for the Christmas spirit to start possessing me, taking over every aspect of my life. When I sleep -- sugarplums. When I walk -- through a winter wonderland. When I speak -- words of good cheer. When I shop -- presents. This is it, babe! It's time to bust out the stockings and deck the halls with holly. Who doesn't love that? I do admit, any sort of representation of Santa Claus displayed on a house or inside of one creeps me out slightly (why would you celebrate breaking and entering?) but other than that, the decor is one of the season's highlights.

I even have my dorm room decorated. Sort of. Kind of. Ish.

I have a tree. Well, you can't even really say that. I have a potted shrub. Okay, maybe that's an overstatment too. I have a small evergreen shrub in a festive durable cardboard container -- but it's an awesome small evergreen shrub in a festive durable cardboard container! I would make any college student envious. It's lovingly nestled next to my coffee maker and sweet yellow duck. Really, it spices up the whole area.

Of course, it did look a little plain when I first got it. Even with the festive durable cardboard, it needed some decoration. At first I thought I would buy some mini ornaments at the Walgreens. But then Walgreens refused to sell me medicine when I was feeling really nasty-sick. Therefore, I felt it was my duty to exercise my consumer power and run a one-woman boycott of the place. So no mini ornaments from the drug store. Then I thought maybe I would just decorate it with random stuff from the dorm. But the only random stuff I could find was paper clips, tape, and old gum wrappers. I wanted a Christmas tree, not a trash tree, so that idea went out the window as well.

So what could I do? There didn't seem to be many other options left. But then inspiration struck in the form of my Mythic West class -- the sheriff's badge I had won in the costume contest. It made the perfect star for the top of the tree. And then there was a pinecone my mom gave me before I left home to face the finals. So that's where the tree (shrub) stands now. We'll see if that expands, but it certainly works.

So there's me getting my Christmas on. I'll study finals while worrying about the criminal St. Nick. I'll write papers while singing carols. Hey -- at least it's raining.