Life in Color Photo

I love Christmas. I love Christmas decorations, and I love Christmas music, like seriously I think Christmas Time Again by Extreme is in my top five of all songs, not just Christmas. Bj and I got the house all festive today after a trip to Target to get some more decorations. Check the tree:


It’s a little hard to get used to the blueness of the LED lights, but I’m doing it for the earth! 88% less energy used! My dad went to his cousin’s tree farm and picked this tree out for me. Because he ships most of his trees to California we get them all bundled up still, so you don’t know exactly what they are going to look like. Dad swears you can tell if they are more even while bundled, and I think he must be right, because check out how perfect this tree is! When we cut the string and it sprung open it was just so symmetrical, and the house smells so so good now.

Leave it to some nice snowy weather to get me crafting. I worked last night on my living room curtains (they have been just pieces of fabric nailed up for over a month now) while waiting for Brent and Emilie to come home. They went with my dad and step mom to Cali for Thanksgiving, and Emilie is staying with me this next week until the rents come home (they are staying for the country music awards in Vegas I think?). It was a very long wait due to the very bad weather. See the thing about snow in the Valley is that, well, we don’t really get it that often. When we want snow we just drive and hour up to the mountain and ski, sled, snow shoe, whatever. But when it hits here the problem is that it’s usually really wet snow, and so it just turns the roads into big lanes of black ice. After Emilie came home at 1:30am I was praying they’d have a snow day. I got up and checked at 6, and it was a two hour delay. Then as we were getting ready for the day they canceled school completely. Sweet. It looked so pretty out this morning, every little twig covered in snow. Now it’s melting, and Emilie’s at her boyfriend’s house helping put up their Christmas decorations. I still have one member of the family here with me:


Seriously, this dog is just too cute for his own good. And handy too, I never here the doorbell ring down in the Ribbon Jar, and Buddy gives me a quick little bark to let me know someone is there! In addition to the curtains, I’m putting up the few Christmas decorations I do have, my nativity (

I filled up the bowl below it with some bulbs Sciarrino and I got at the ghetto-ist of sales last summer. Plus my one dollar candle holders at another sale:


Don’t you love that lounging Santa on the e? I do think vintage Christmas decorations are one of the hardest things to find, as they tend to be much loved, and also passed down generations, instead of sold. Also cheering up my place:


Flowers my mom brought for Thanksgiving. The only vase I own is holding kitchen utensils so my mom grabbed this canister to put them in. So darling sitting on the vintage high chair. While working today I’m running "quick" loads of laundry; fabric from the Hawaiian haul so I can start Christmas gifts, my tree skirt, pillows, I’ve got lots of plans for it. I’ll be back to knitting tonight though, as Em and I will probably head back to my dad’s for the rest of the week. I’m mean hey, it’s got a stocked pantry, and cases of diet coke. Plus I haven’t actually left my house for a few days, and I’m starting to feel like a hermit.

I did it! I coordinated and cooked a big Thanksgiving feast right here in my little cottage! When I first got the place I was so excited that I shouted out, "I’ll do Thanksgiving!" with out really thinking what that entailed. Then I got engaged and it kinda fell to the back burner so this last week I really had to get my ass in gear to get everything done. I went to the grocery store, and luckily they were nice enough to help me find all the things on my list that I had no idea what they looked like (fennel bulbs?!?!). After getting all stocked up Bj came over the day before and help me with some last minuet things, like hanging a new curtain rod, raking the leaves, etc. I stayed up too late on Wednesday and the only reason I popped out of bed Thursday morning was because of the nightmares I’d had that night that I got up too late and didn’t get the turkey in until 11. But no fear, I stuffed that bird and shoved it in the oven just in time. I had cut up a bunch of stuff the night before so I really just had to figure out what giblets were and stuff like that. I made the turkey, two stuffings from scratch, gravy from giblet broth, acorn squash and fennel and mandarin salad. My mom and Bill brought two kinds of cranberry relish, wine, and a green bean and hazelnut dish. Michele and Brett brought the potatoes, salad, and the entertainment (baby Violet, and a cool new version of Cranium). Bj’s parent’s brought dessert. It was so much fun!


Bj’s appetizers.


and the other side:


It was so great to have everyone bring something. We ate at about three, and then chatted, played a game, had dessert. And afterwords Bj said I was going to make a great wife, awe! So sweet!

I mean, I think I can carry on a conversation with just about anyone, but I’ve still got that tickly throat thing and I want to spread the conversation around the table Thursday. Do you know of any site that has cool conversation starters? Or do you have a good list going somewhere? I found this book and this one, but no one near me carries them.

Oh and on a totally unrelated note, I got out the newsletter today, with a coupon for 20% off any size order Friday. If you didn’t get it, or aren’t signed up just enter "turkey" to get the deal from midnight to midnight at the Ribbon Jar. Tell them Amber sent you (ha ha, that was funny in my head).