It's beginning to feel a lot like...

After Stella enjoyed Halloween decorations so much this year, we decided that trying to decorate for Christmas might be finally worth it this year. Now don't get me wrong, I've never been a Christmas grinch or anything, but in our 11 years together, Steve and I have only got a Christmas tree once-  and it was a two foot tall Rosemary tree that we then planted in our yard and I promptly killed by Easter.

However, this year, I figured it was time. However, we were a little sparse on Christmas decorations. My mom, brilliant mother that she is, purchased my brother and I a Christmas ornament every year we had Christmas so that when we would want to have a tree of our own, we would have ornaments to go with it. She mailed those to me a few years ago, along with some of the ones that were my favorites, and so ornaments we had. Other stuff, not so much.

So, of course, being my thrifty self (and without a Target or Walmart to find cheap items) I did what I always do - go to the thrift store! I was pretty proud of myself with this year's purchases -  12 long strands of white and multi-lights for $10, a bag of glass balls for 99 cents, and a bag of assorted garland for $2. Christmas for $13? You betcha!

So here's what we did - I went a little nutso with all the white lights on the large front porch, and then topped off the front window and the kitchen with the rest. Today, we went looking for a tree (with a stop off at the thrift store for a tree stand (score! $6!)) and I was a little weirded out by how "city folk" pick out their trees. We went to the local farm that had the pumpkin patch and voila! No more pumpkins but trees! (Luckily for us, however, the corn maze was still up and we got ourselves totally lost. Seriously, we had to backtrack and find the entrance again because we couldn't find out how to get out!)

After the corn maze, I waded through rows of trees, already cut and from somewhere up in Oregon, and found our little Douglas Fir. It was all a little odd not to be cutting down one from the local tree farm - and even odder that we were all wearing short sleeve shirts and sandals (because it was 72 here today).

Still, after some holiday Motown classics, and a little help from my saved ornaments and thrifty lights, we have a bit of Christmas in Santa Barbara. I think Stella enjoyed sorting the glass balls from one box to the other more than anything else, but it kept her busy for at least 20 minutes, and I was able to continue a well-heeled Zygmonski tradition where the mother sticks herself deep into the branches of the tree to get the lights on the inside. (I'm never really sure WHY my mother did this part, but I think it has something to do with the fact that we always picked out prickly trees and she had the highest pain threshold?)

So here's to a little Christmas spirit, and now it's time to indulge on something I haven't the last two holidays - eggnog and bourbon.

We don't have a tree topper so I have got to come up with something. I was thinking about the holiday felt monster, but that's just because I know how to make them. I'm sure Stella would much prefer the holiday tree topper monkey, and frankly, that actually makes more sense than the monster, right?