jan 1.

After a 12 day whirlwind of travel, we are back home in our apartment for the first time tonight. We spent a happiest Christmas in North Carolina and New Year's on incredible Lake Tahoe. As 2013 begins, I'm acutely aware of how rich I am. I feel so much thankfulness for the extravagant goodness in my life.

. . .

this thanksgiving.

I loved Thanksgiving this year. We fit 10 people in our little apartment and had quite the feast together. No one at our gathering was from San Francisco, so we were all away from our families and normal traditions. Spending the day in each other's company was wonderful and fun, plus I thoroughly enjoy throwing a little party. Everyone pitched in and brought awesome food. During dinner, people were spread about our apartment - some at the table, some on the sofa, and a few troopers even ate in camping chairs. The meal was superb and after we ate, everyone sat around the living room and talked for hours. Thankfully, the wonderful Carly Mask took some beautiful photos of the evening. Have a look if you'd like!

Cool Things About Our Thanksgiving:

1. My cousin Nick, who I've spent pretty much every Thanksgiving with for my whole life, actually moved to SF this year too. He joined our festivities and while our families ate together back in NC, we spent the day together 3,000 miles away. Life is funny.
2. These friends can cook. Oh my goodness the food was insanely good.
3. A few of our guests were Belgian and this marked their first Thanksgiving ever! Describing the historical conception of Thanksgiving and how it relates to our modern traditions is kind of hard. They had a good time nonetheless. Of all the new foods, they liked the green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole best. 

4. I am so thankful that we have friends to spend a Thanksgiving with. Hallelujah.

. . .

a tree, a tree!

Pertinent background information: we don't really have a tree this year. We have a small apartment, no car, and all of our christmas ornaments and decorations are back in NC. So we decided to forego a normal tree for this year and I created a makeshift 2D one, which is basically a paper tree on the wall with some decorations taped on. It's actually pretty pitiful. I'll share pictures of that one later. 

So last night, when Al and Carly came for dinner and brought us a real little tree, I was very excited. I literally hugged it. We decorated it with a single strand of lights and exactly 4 ornaments, all hung with paper clips. They brought us a pretty mistletoe arrangement too, which that sweet Carly put together herself. Their Christmas additions to our apartment have made it feel so much more cheery. I'm really thankful for those two.

I love my little tree so much that I've been moving it from room to room based on wherever I'm hanging out. The perks of having a teeny tree!

. . .

my favorite christmas time video.

I love this rendition of the Christmas Story, narrated by little children. Have you seen it?

( Watch the HD version here )

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