Things I Love: Christmas Tree 2011

The first Christmas that Craig and I were married, I insisted on some modest decorations. I bought a set of three small artificial trees and some ornaments in a blue and silver theme. That comprised our Christmas setup for 2009 and 2010, and both of those years, we were actually away from home on Christmas morning.

For 2011, our first Christmas when we'd actually be in our own place, Craig opted for a living tree, and since I was unable to find those blue and silver ornaments (seriously, where did they go?! Our apartment is not that big!), I decorated it with candy canes, a paper chain garland, and an eight-point star made from cardboard and tin foil. Craig surprised me on Christmas morning by adding lights to the tree, the one thing I really needed for Christmas to feel real.

All in all, it's a scrappy but beautiful little tree.

The night before Christmas -- plenty of presents, but no lights just yet!

The star I made. Do you like how lopsided and doofy it is? Because I do.

I took this one whilst sitting on the couch on Christmas morning. Sneaky Craig put the lights on the tree in the night. And for the sake of explanation, the TV is tuned in to "I Love the 90s" on VH1 (the whole "I Love the" series is a serious favorite of mine). Craig had me turn up the volume while he set up a surprise Skype call with my family in the other room. SNEAKY CRAIG!

And here the tree sits today. I'm planning to take it down and use the lights and star somewhere else in the house, but we'll see how the day goes.