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I miss my tree.

Correction. I miss my trees.

Yes, I decorate every room in my house with a Christmas tree each year; and I’m not ashamed of it either.

When your roommates have four legs, no one complains about my décor choices, especially around the holidays. There is a tree in every room of my house, and each one has its own theme.

The first tree to go up is my bedroom tree. It’s basically a glorified Charlie Brown tree that I deck with ornaments in shades of Robin’s egg blue, millennial pink, gold, and silver. Most of these ornaments are my grandmother’s, Doris Guido.

She had a thing for the pastels and even covered her house in seafoam green carpet – a design choice we never quite understood. This tree, though, is the first up and the last down. It makes my day.

Another confession. I don’t wait for Thanksgiving to decorate the next run of trees in my house.

With my birthday on the 20th of November, I usually spend that day decorating the rest of the house.

There is the tree in my dining room that is covered in birds and squirrels – two of my Beagles’ favorite things.

In my kitchen, I have table-top trees that are filled with ornaments of food, kitchen gadgets, and cocktails. (This year, I added a second tree. You’d be surprised how many food ornaments are out there.)

Finally, in my office, I put up a small tree for my Hallmark ornaments I collected as a child.

Each year, my mom would take Aimee and I to Bookland in the mall to pick out ornaments for our bedroom trees. I first started collecting the Holiday Barbie ornaments, which was followed by Scarlet O’Hara, and then Madame Alexander (another collection started by my grandmother, Doris).

Once all the trinkets are placed, the mantel is decked, and the tree-scented candles are lit, I wait for the big tree – the real one.

As soon as Stine’s has their trees in stock, off we go. Mind you, I get one that is painted white because we flock it once it comes home. Green trees just don’t flock like I’m used to (again, another Dorisism).

We secure it in the stand, trim it out, get out the snow machine, and flock. Once inside, I hang more ornaments on it than I probably should, but each one is so special and tells stories of where I’ve traveled, where friends have traveled, and (of course) my love for hound dogs.

There is nothing better than sitting in my living room and staring at that tree.

So, now, my house is empty. I may or may not still be burning tree-scented candles, but I miss each one of my trees and am counting down the months until they come back out of the closet.

Jennie Guido is a community columnist for The Natchez Democrat. You may reach her at guido.jennie@gmail.com.