No Christmas tree

Those were probably some of the hardest years of all. The previous year's Christmas tree maybe wasn't stored very well, or got destroyed or heavily damaged for some reason (One reason I prefer artificial trees is that, if you're careful, you can reuse them year after year.), so ideally we would get ourselves a new one. But for some years, business got so bad that the idea of setting aside money to get a Christmas tree just wasn't conceivable.

There were bills to pay, utilities to cover, food to put on the table, and so many other things to spend on, and a Christmas tree just seemed frivolous. Still, even with all the reasons in your head for not getting a Christmas tree, somehow your heart still aches a bit because your living room feels like it's missing something, like there's a vacancy there somewhere.

Oh, we had other decorations (the ones which managed to survive from the previous year), but without the tree, you just feel a little bit sad.