'Tis the Season

Winter is finally upon us. I know this because today it was cold. Not Wisconsin-freeze-your-eye-balls cold, but definitely cold for an Orange County girl. The high today was 56 degrees in Palo Alto - definitely fuzzy scarf weather.

Another reason I know it is really winter is because Christmas is now around the corner, and I can get into the holiday spirit. The Christmas songs on the radio and in stores began a few weeks ago, which really bugs me because by the time Christmas rolls around, I'm sick of Rudolf and his red nose. But now, with December in full swing, it is time to deck the halls and be merry!

Yesterday, M and I bought "our" first Christmas tree! It was very exciting. We went to Target and scoped out the fake trees they had there. I was highly impressed with Target's selection! We picked a little four foot tall one, kind of fuzzy, not the typical wintergreen kind of fake tree. I originally had wanted a real tree, but with us not being home the two weeks before and after Christmas, I did not want a real tree to have died without getting the chance to bring joy on Christmas morning. The tree was actually really cute, though it was pretty scraggly when it came out of the box. We had to fluff it up a bit, and by the end, it was nice and bushy. I found a really cute Penguin ornament at Target, and some new ball ornaments, but most of the stuff in the tree came from my Christmas box that I've had for years. We also strung up blue lights in our little tree, because blue lights are my favorite. If I do say so myself, our little tree is not too shabby!

While I decked out our tree, M put up lights outside on our balcony, and inside around the living room's big window/door. We even decorated our little bamboo tree - no reason exotic trees can't get dressed up and join the party! And, our little Wilbur got his very own Christmas bell around his fat little neck. He is too cute not to share, so he got top billing in this entry. Some people have kids, others have pets; we have our Wilbur the Pig, and he is a great apartment pig. He is also a very politically involved lil' pig, and if you squint, you can see his Obama pin on his right ear.

It was really nice decorating our apartment and getting into the holiday spirit. We played Kenny Chesney's Christmas album, "All I Want for Chirstmas is a Real Good Tan" (how country of us!) while we put decorations up, and hummed along to visions of a white Christmas - white sand, that is! Domestic little things like Christmas decorating really make one feel like half a couple. It's still strange sometimes to think, Wow, I live with this person; this tree belongs to both of us. Strange, but warm and fuzzy, and isn't warm and fuzzy what the holidays are all about?