Finally, the day I've been waiting for since Halloween!

I bought this tree the first year that MB and I lived together. I remember seeing it in the Michaels ad, and then hustling to get to the store to buy it after the kitschy trinket shop where I worked closed for the night. It's little, but I love it so much. It's just not Christmas without a tree, no matter how small.

I adore this Advent calendar. I had an identical one when I was a kid, but my sister sort of adopted it as hers, and so it stayed at the house after I moved out for college. I always felt sad that I didn't have it, even though I was glad that my sister was going to have the same fond memories of it. Then, at Christmas last year, my mom gave me this one. She'd had a second kit put away somewhere, twenty five years later, and she'd sewn it up for me. She even stitched all the little beads on, just like the first one. I'm almost getting teary talking about it. (SAP. I am a huge SAP.) Anyway...one of my favorite Christmas gifts of all time.

This turkey has become something of an unofficial Thanksmas mascot, though I may be the only one who thinks so. I found the reindeer among my grandmother's Christmas ornaments after she died. I can't really say why, but I absolutely love him.


In other Christmas-related news, the paper ornament project is off to a slow but good start:


I went out shopping with Evilducky yesterday, and managed to score quite a few Christmas presents. I can't say much more than that, because most of the things I got were for my Secret Santa, my sister, and MB, and all of them are aware of the existence of this blog. Evilducky gave me a spare Bath & Body Works coupon, and because of her generosity I can say without hesitation that this is the best lotion EVER. Mmm...pomegranate. I also have to say that I'm immensely pleased with the newly redesigned Victoria's Secret signature cotton bikini underwear. The old style never seemed to have enough space for my junky trunk, but the new cut they've got out now is perfect. Even though I had my typical difficulty finding my size, I scored some really cute prints. (And with that, this may be the girliest entry I've ever written. I'd better stop writing before I admit that I cried at the end of The Family Stone and Junebug yesterd...crap.)