minimal christmas {still + life}

These pictures were taken about an hour apart yesterday morning. 7:10 and 8:30. Ish. After I took the first Neel and I looked at the tree and both liked it so much with just the lights. Neel said, maybe just the lights and the star? Could we do just that?

So I opened the first box of ornaments and there was the star, right on top. A sign. I felt a little clutch when I saw the garland that Callum and I made when we was just wee and we were living in San Diego, but we held firm and here we are. Lights and a star. That's it.

You guys.....??? Can we do that? Just lights and a star? Really? Is it, you know, okay? Will Santa still come?

weekend recap, december 9

1. tree hunt | 2. local joint 3. in situ | 4. dinner with friends | 5. st. germain on ice | 6. ice wreath | 7. deco time | 8. chili | 9. success

Well, while all of you were out enjoying your ice storms and snow and just generally making me jealous, we were submitted to a cold rain this weekend, just warm enough to keep from being fun and just cold enough to be really, really miserable. I mentioned that two-day migraine on Instagram, well here's why: 80º  on Friday, 49º on Saturday, 39º on Sunday. My poor head couldn't keep up.

Shopping for a tree felt like we were back in California. Warm! Too warm. We could have taken our time and browsed a bit, but Cal found a perfect tree on the first try, so there we were. Got it home and in a bucket and saved the rest of the work for later. Gah. I must be getting old. I used to be able to whip this decorating out no problem. Now it's taking days, and I'm still not done!

An unexpected dinner with friends on Saturday (seriously, who has a free evening in December these days?), lots of house and other work on Sunday, and now it feels like we've barely had a break. Monday again. The tree is sparkling behind me though, and the decorations are almost up and out. There's a Christmassy chill in the air. We're getting there. Man, that chili was good.