Mary and I (mostly Mary) started decorating our Christmas Tree last night.  I have to say, I've always just quickly wrapped strings of lights around the tree and thought that's just how it was done.  Mary, however, is a pro.  She doesn't just walk around the tree and rest the string of lights on the branches.  Oh no, she wraps the string around individual branches.  "It gives it some depth," she says.  Admittedly, the tree looks WAY better with this approach.  You just have to have some patience and dedication. 

After she got the lights on (I helped...kind of), we hung some non-specific ornaments like icicles, glass balls, etc.  Then she hung some of her own personal ornaments.  I have yet to find mine, although I think they may still be at my parents' house.  Having lived in four different places since I graduated from college, I'm sure they're in a box somewhere.

Most of the time while Mary was working, Bentley just sat and watched.  Although he looks sad in this picture, he really was enjoying himself.

About a week ago, Mary and I attempted the first bit of Christmas decorating by attempting to put lights on our balcony railing.  I say attempt because we had to sort through several strings to find decent, working sets.  Then we had to figure out how to put them on the railing without having to wind them in and out of the bars.  We opted to go from top to bottom, wrapping the railing vertically.

Although this worked (for the most part), it was quite tedious.  I also ran into a problem a few days later where one of the strings was shorting out, and I had to replace it.  Of course, the new string wasn't the same length as the old string, so I had to get a little creative!  Afterwards, I hung up some icicle lights on the inside of our windows that overlook the street.  Mary also did a little decorating inside (after a mini-marathon of Christmas shopping).  Nice, little touches that really make it feel like Christmas!  I'm assuming the next task will be decorating the tree.

On a side note, when I was taking this picture, I happened to think the lights reflected on the (un-salted) icy road was a cool scene.

For as long as I can remember, my family ventured out each year to collectively pick a fresh Christmas tree.  We never went to go cut it down ourselves, but we also never just went to the corner lot.  When we lived on the south side, we always went to Fasel & Sons Nursery.  Most years, it was frigid and we would all pile into our family Suburban with layers of clothes on in search for just the right tree.  After one was selected, we always went inside their store to look at the newest Christmas lights and ornaments, all of the Nativity scenes for sale, and what seemed like 100 poinsetta plants throughout the nursery.  After my brothers got married, my parents and I, or for a year or two just my dad and I, would go to pick our fresh tree.  Even after we moved to Homer Glen, we drove less then a mile to our new local nursery to pick out our annual tree.  Even one year, my grandpa was up for the ride, and although he stayed in the car, Santa happened to be at the nursery that day so we asked that he come say hello to my grandpa and we all had our picture taken with him.

Last year was my first year not being with my parents through the season, as I had moved to an apartment in the city.  I still went and picked a tree with them though and helped decorate it as always. 

This year, Jack and I needed to start our own tradition.  It seemed the best place for us to go for a fresh tree in the city was Home Depot.  So this past Sunday (on a particularly cold and blustery night) we bundled up and headed to our local HD in search of our first tree.  Turns out, Home Depot doesn't work quite the same way as a nursery.  Instead of each tree having opened a bit so you could see what it would look like, most were frozen stiff and some were still wrapped with twine.  It was basically a guessing game to figure out what might open up to be a perfect tree.  We finally settled on one and then waited in line for them to take a fresh cut off the bottom.  We then paid for our tree, grabbed some twine and headed back to my car for our first experience in tying anything to the top rack.  Afterward, we headed across the street for some Starbucks hot chocolate just to warm our hands.  We went home and Jack must have really known what he was doing because our tree was still on top of the car when we got back to the condo.  We (he) brought it upstairs and while he held it straight, I expertly secured it into the tree stand that we borrowed from my parents.  (Thanks Mom & Dad)

That night, as the tree adjusted to the warmer temperature and it started to open, one tree branch suddenly fell off the bottom.  We didn't think a whole lot of it until a little while later, a second one fell.  I was concerned that by the time I woke up Monday morning, we'd have our very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but thankfully that wasn't the case.  Now all we need to do is decorate it!

I missed being with my parents for our usual tree excursion, and Home Depot isn't quite the same as those other places, but it is nice to create new traditions and memories with Jack, now that he is my family too.

I have to say, the last few months have been a wild ride.  Yes, yes - everyone knows we got married just over two short months ago.  But in addition to that, Jack and I have been trying to slowly unpack and get settled into our condo, we are just plain adjusting to living together and being married, and if that wasn't enough, as soon as the wedding was over, I hit my busiest season at work.  I knew that all along when we picked a fall wedding date, but it certainly put the "getting settled" part of our lives on the back-burner.  I am thrilled to say, the RSNA Annual Meeting was a success, but I am even more relieved to say that it is just plain over for this year.  Don't get me wrong, I like my job and love the people I work with, but yesterday seemed like the first day I was able to take a really deep, relaxing breath in months.

Last night, Jack asked me what my first blog would be about on our new site.  I had been giving that some thought lately and decided that I didn't want to start with a blog about a single event or recent purchase for our place.  Because it is the holiday season, I tend to get very sentimental and emotional at this time of year and the familiar phrase of "there is no place like home" struck me last night.  For me, home has always been where my parents are and in so many ways, it will always be that way, but in coming back to the condo after being at the hotel for RSNA for over a week, this might have been the first time our place really started to feel like home to me as well.  I think that is because when I came home, I came home to Jack, who truly has my heart.  Don't worry though, Mom & Dad, part of my heart (and a few rough totes) will always be in Homer Glen too! :)

Although I like when it snows, I usually don't get really excited about it.  Last Monday, December 1st, I woke up and looked out the window only to find it had snowed quite a bit!  For some reason, I got really excited (which was promptly followed by irritation in having to clean off my car and to try to get to work on time)!  Nevertheless, I as so excited that I was overcome with an urge to take pictures from the window of our condo.  It would have been better if Mary was with me and not at a hotel for her conference, but at least she's home now, and it even was snowing when we woke up this morning.  I know JF is still anxiously waiting for more snow on the east coast to go snowboarding, and in thinking about it, we have a few offers to go skiing this winter!  Can't wait!!