Christmas Tree 2

Office mate Adam Shull wrote about "The Office"-like experience of reporters jostling for the good dates on the vacation calendar.

Now we'll share our sad little Christmas tree with the rest of you. Last year, our first year as an office family, we bought a tree on the half-price sale at Hobby Lobby and decked the tree with lights and ornaments. We even hosted the "first annual Flip the Switch" ceremony.

This year, I hauled the tree out from the recesses of cobwebs and a funeral pyre of old notebooks under the desk on Black Friday. With the ALA (Adam, Leigh, Angie) Annex all to myself, I flipped the tree out of the box late that afternoon, fluffed the branches and left with the intention of decorating on Monday when my officemates returned. When I walked in Monday, they had already decorated with the trinkets of stuff we'd accumulated this year. No lights. No ceremony.

I think we'll keep it like this, Adam's cell phone charger and all. Let's just hope when his phone vibrates that it doesn't cause a New Madrid Earthquake rumbling and all the "ornaments" fall out.

Hey, in this dour economy, we have to brighten our work lives somehow, even if it's with a pathetic little tree.