It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I am battling my second horrible head cold of the school year, the kind where you can actually feel your voice echoing in your head and it hurts to touch your eyes, forehead, and cheeks. But I am finding comfort as I sit on my couch, drinking Brian's cure-all homemade tea looking at my Christmas tree. That's right, I have my first real, full sized Christmas tree in seven years. And it makes me so happy.

Two nights ago, Brian and I went to a tree lot in Astoria to pick out our first real tree together. It only took us about two minutes to find the one. It was perfect. Full, tall, and super fresh. After talking to the Canadian tree man about the different kinds of trees and taking one final look at our pick, we gave him a thumbs up to cut the trunk and wrap it up.

Did I mention that the tree lot is four avenues away from my apartment? And that Brian is my holiday hero? Because after our tree was purchased and wrapped, we had to somehow get it back to my apartment without a car or train. So, Brian hauled it the four long avenues home over his shoulder. We had a few branch casualties, but by the time it arrived back at my house it still was beautiful.

After getting the tree set up and straightened, we let the branches fall and settle for a day before decorating it together. I was so excited all day yesterday at work for our night of holiday festivities. Once Brian got to my apartment, we put on Pandora's Christmas station and started unwrapping my boxes of Christmas ornaments. Price tags were torn off, tissue was balled up and returned to the red and green containers, and ornaments were carefully hung and arranged. And it made me feel so incredibly happy. Happy to get to start a new tradition with Brian and to be reminded of the countless years my mom and I did the same thing on our family's tree in Minnesota. It felt really nice.

After the last ornament was hung and the lights were dimmed, we sat and admired our perfect little tree. We ate a delicious meal of short ribs, parsnips, and carrots that Brian made as we watched Christmas Vacation, our favorite holiday movie. I sipped Brian's special tea (aloe, honey, lemon, orange, ginger, and Calm tea), which I am convinced that I need in order to get better when I am sick, as we laughed curled up on the couch. Unfortunately, I was not feeling great and fell asleep about twenty minutes into the movie. But the night was still perfect to me. I woke up early this morning for work before the sun had even thought about rising, and eagerly plugged the strands of lights back in. I got ready with the glow of Christmas lights and the smell of Douglas fur filling my living room. Life is good.