It's hard to explain the feeling of walking out of Christ Hospital at the end of the Trauma rotation. For the first time in six weeks, I felt like a normal person.

During one of the many miserable days on the service, one of the med students said she had just put up her Christmas tree and it made her feel a little cheerier. I told her I was taking vitamin D tablets. She suggested that I should get myself a tree, too.

I brought this up during Joseph and Joanna's annual Thanksgiving dinner, and heard nothing but discouragement. Myung and Mike's recommendation: a Christmas tree screensaver. Scrooges.

Well, it didn't matter because at that point I was getting a tree no matter what. I stopped by at Target after work and strolled around the Christmas section. I ruled out the full-sized trees because of the lack of room in my place. I ruled out the mini desktop-sized trees because come on. I eventually found my Charlie Brown tree in the back. It's plastic, it's about a foot-and-a-half tall, and it's got little lights built in that light up the dark corner of my living room and heart.