You Too Can Have a Tiny Tree This Holiday Season

Xmas Trees Are For Everybody

So you have left home - and there you are in your apartment - or maybe even your room - and it's Xmas - ugh. And you think longingly about growing up and that great treat homeand all the ornaments - ah! But you are broke and have no room . And maybe you are going away over the holidays, anyway. But aha! even you can have an Xmas tree. Face it - aren't holiday decorations part of the season? Don't you feel like a Grinch without anything?

And no, you don't have to break the bank. Here are some tips on being festive when broke or on a budget - gleaned from years of being a starving artiste....

Collect little artificial trees you can use year after year. I have an assortment of trees I have picked up - a wooden Scandinavian one my mother sent one year - some artificial ones I got at the dollar store - an old plastic one which is a nice dark green color - And I just got a tin Mexican one. (I have coveted that tin Mexican work for years...) And where did I get them? Other than the gifts - thrift shops and dollar stores!You can put more than one around to create an Xmas decor if you have the room.

Actually thrift shops in good neighborhoods are great for Xmas ornaments and such. Last year I acquired a set of little straw ornaments and some wooden ones - all of which would have cost a fortune elsewhere. It's fun to look for tiny ornaments to put on your tree. (And easier to store it all, too!) My old plastic tree is now in a basket - and I have curls of metallic ribbon in the branches, and a touch of tinsel. You can put on lights or not. The little ones look great.

Actually, the first year I spent Xmas away from home I was crafty and made a little tree out of a cone of paper which I then decorated with leaves cut out of gold paper and other decoupage. Wish I still had it.

And if you want the scent of pine boughs (it is nice). Think about finding some stray branches from you local Xmas tree lot (they trim them) and putting it in a vase of water! You can trim those boughs, too, if you like.One year I had an apartment with old cornices above the windows and I piled them with pine boughs. Boy, it smelled great.