The Joys of a Small Christmas Tree

Photo by Cameron Stewart on Unsplash

This was the first year since 2019 that I put up a Christmas tree. In 2020, of course, the world ravaged by Covid, I skipped what a former boyfriend once called my “pagan ritual.” I found myself in a new apartment after my New York City landlord raised the rent over 30%. Yes, in the middle of the crisis, as the City was losing 1,000 people a day, the building’s owner sent me an email: “It has been a tough year for landlords.”…