Thanksgiving is now behind us. As my tradition I pulled the Christmas stuff out of storage and began to figure out what to do with all of it.
Over the years I have made an effort to reduce the amount of junk I have to deal with. When the older children where little the tree was big (not huge but a good size) and was surrounded by a lot of presents (junk). As the kids got older the toys became more costly and the amount of the them shrunk. Less toys means less tree. Then the daycare children required that I not only put the tree in a playpen but also suspend it from the ceiling. As the younger children have grown the tree has become thinner. Now that they are teenagers and a tween I'm ready to make the tree disappear.
The tree this year is only 2 1/2 feet tall. I think the topper is bigger then the tree. It's actually just the top portion of the bigger tree. I wanted a wall tree but didn't want to spend the money. I took the top 1/3 of the tree and moved all the branches to one side. I should be able to put it in the closet on a shelf without undecorating it.
The mantle is simple too. Four candle lights with flowers, two family photos and a wreath.
A small altar made from a small side table is decorated with garland, one crown ornament, lights, family bible is my favorite this year.

Next year the small tree may be history. The altar will come back and the flowers on the mantle will be replaced.