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(Friendly) Ghosts of Christmas Past — The Trashy Turquoise Twinkly Tree
My favorite family Christmas story is the one my husband tells about his lean college years . . .
“I’m going to run out of money before the end of the year,” I thought. Whatever would I do?
It was the winter break of my final year of university, and I had run out of money. I didn’t own a credit card, and had tapped out all of my student loans. I was at a loss to know what to do.
Christmas was coming, but my financial woes ensured I would not be able to get into the holiday spirit anytime soon. I was living a frugal student lifestyle, so I had no extra funds at the best of times. Years of university life had tapped out all of my cash, even though I had worked part time to try to keep up with the heavy expenses.
Pondering my situation, I started cleaning my residence for what would be my final year there. When I went out to deposit the garbage inside the shed that held the bins, I noticed that someone had thrown away a small, ragtag, artificial Christmas tree. It had seen far better days and reminded me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree I’d seen on the animated TV movie. To top it off, it was a hideous hue of bright turquoise. I didn’t mind the color, though it seemed more than a…
