For Home

I am thankful for traditions. Yesterday, Tom and I made our fifth annual trip to the Hotel Del for overpriced cocktails and a view of the tree. Word is, we'll be heading back on a chilly evening for s'mores by the fire pits; but yesterday, it was all about the tree.

{This year's theme is: The Sweetest Season}

We opted for salads in light of the previous day's overindulgence.

{What?! Bloody Marys are full of vitamins.}

Armed with the Del's Christmas inspiration, we went to pick out our own tree. I will admit that it's not quite as festive as a snowy evening at Kaigle's garage in Burlington, but a I'll accept a 20% decrease in festivity for an average of 263 days of sunshine a year...

Thanks again to the magical couponing wizards at Groupon, we got a beautiful Noble fir for half off...

{Our tree and my Christmas shoes}

After a trip to CVS for a new tree stand and a bread knife standing in for a hack saw, the tree was up. By the time Diana Krall's Christmas Songs and Ray Charles' The Spirit of Christmas had played through, all of the decorations were up.

Tonight I am incredibly thankful for my home, for the literal and figurative warmth that it provides. Now I'm going to work on upping the seasonal cheer even further (if that's possible) by whipping up some old school paper snowflakes.