ESQUIMALT – Most of the year, the small plants growing in the cracks and crevices along Admirals Road are dismissed as weeds. They're lucky if they even register with the people who pass them (although one of the weeds did have a Lucky Beer bottle cap resting beside it). One man walking by calls it "the middle of nowhere."

Yet – along a rocky wall near CFB Esquimalt – there's one weed in particular that's celebrating the season.

"The last time I was here this was not decorated," says another man, who stopped to take a picture of it. "It's decorated today!" Although the evergreen tree is less than 30 centimetres tall, it's covered with more than 40 ornaments.

"Is it a live tree?," a third man asks, before attempting to pull it from the ground. It doesn't budge. It seems to be flourishing, despite the inhospitable surroundings. Its tiny trunk is emerging from a crack in the wall, with no noticeable soil.

Nobody I spoke with knows who decorated the tree, but many offer an opinion about why: "A random act of kindness", "A senseless act of beauty," and "Magic!"

A woman, on the other side of the busy street from the wonderful weed, says that whoever's responsible must have been inspired by the "magic of Christmas" to transform the disregarded into the delightful.

Perhaps it was the sentiment of the season that reminded the weed-decorator to look out for the overlooked. Beside the big weed-tree, is another that's half the size of your hand. 

"It's like it gave birth!," a man laughs, noticing the sapling for the first time. "It's like the other one's baby!"

It, too, is decorated; even the tiniest of Tannenbaum deserve attention. "I've never seen decorations that small," a man proclaims, peering at hanging bears and wrapped presents that are less than half the size of a fingernail.

O Christmas Weed, O Christmas Weed – with all due respect to the seasonal song – what pleasure do you bring me? 

"It brings a smile to your face this time of year," a man says before grinning. "It definitely brightened my day seeing that," says a smiling young woman.

A family of wonderful weeds reminding these grateful people of the most priceless of gifts, "Love, family, sharing," an older woman beams.

O Christmas Weeds, O hope sublime, for lending strength and comfort through all this time.