The day after Thanksgiving, I was too exhausted from cooking and cleaning to do any exploring. We had dreams of visiting a farm and chopping down our own Christmas tree, but I didn't even have the energy to drive for an hour. Instead, we smelled some expensive candles, got hot chocolate and jasmine tea to go, ventured to a nearby vendor, and bought the tallest tree we could find - from Wisconsin!
When we usually visit my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins in South Florida for Thanksgiving, the whole family gets together to decorate my little cousin's tree. Being that I couldn't do that with them this year, we carried on our "Black Friday" tradition of avoid shopping and instead, we decorated for Christmas in our Chicago apartment.
(Okay, maybe we didn't completely avoid shopping on Black Friday. We ordered a new computer online with one of those huge screens. But hey! We saved about $500 by ordering that day. Also - shout out to Max for helping me learn what I need in a computer in order to simultaneously edit photos and have at least twenty internet tabs open at the same time. I've been editing photos and writing blog posts all night with this new large screen and I must say... I think I'm done with the laptop life. Now that I have my own little office where I can work from home, blog as a hobby, and still see my dog laying on his bed in the living room, I've got everything I need.)
You'll notice our newest ornament, a bright red and white mushroom that we got at the Christkindlmarket (more on this event soon!). At one point, there was some Martha Stewart felt mushroom ornament DIY that I stumbled upon and S must have seen it over my shoulder. Ever since, we talk about a Christmas tree full of mushrooms. I like the idea of having an entire garland of little felt mushrooms, but the ornament above was too pretty to pass up, and it was a lovely way to remember the night. Since, we have found more mushroom ornaments from Ikea! Mushrooms must be trending. (Also, I did not see these in store, only online just now when searching for the mushroom ornaments link to share - but how cute are these bearded Santa ornaments?). While were at Ikea, we also stocked up on the crunchy ginger cookies that they sell. We like to eat them while watching Rare Exports, which we do every year.
You'll notice our newest ornament, a bright red and white mushroom that we got at the Christkindlmarket (more on this event soon!). At one point, there was some Martha Stewart felt mushroom ornament DIY that I stumbled upon and S must have seen it over my shoulder. Ever since, we talk about a Christmas tree full of mushrooms. I like the idea of having an entire garland of little felt mushrooms, but the ornament above was too pretty to pass up, and it was a lovely way to remember the night. Since, we have found more mushroom ornaments from Ikea! Mushrooms must be trending. (Also, I did not see these in store, only online just now when searching for the mushroom ornaments link to share - but how cute are these bearded Santa ornaments?). While were at Ikea, we also stocked up on the crunchy ginger cookies that they sell. We like to eat them while watching Rare Exports, which we do every year.
We spent the rest of the evening decorating the tree, drinking Beaujolais Nouveau wine (which is really good this year!), listening to Sufjan Stevens holiday albums, and watching my favorite holiday movie, The Family Stone. We've been saving a bottle of port that was a gift and we've wanted to save it for "our first winter in Chicago." We must have waited too long because it did not taste good. It was past it's prime. But, it doesn't reflect our feelings about Chicago or it's winter. I can't imagine moving here at any other time in our lives. It's been really great. Some would say that it's all come together.
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