We've put up the Christmas tree.  Found a new Christmas tree farm close to our new place that makes its own pulled pork and barbecue sauce which made for an amazing breakfast at 9:30 in the morning.  I think if they'd let us, we'd live on the grounds and work for just pulled pork sandwiches. I seriously am not a barbecue fan and I tried to buy a bottle or at least the recipe from them.  The guy who made it apparently had just thrown a bunch of stuff in a pan and had no idea what was in it so my requests were just laughed at. 

This is the first year of our lives together that The KingofHearts and I have had almost no restrictions on the height of our tree. We had pretty low ceilings in the other house and there was always a fan in the way of the only logical place to put the tree.  This year, we knew we could go bigger but almost every tree we liked at the farm was H-to-the-UGE. So we argued about how big a tree we could actually get and I, always the pragmatist, wanted to err on the side of caution.  He wanted a bigger tree, but I wanted to still be able to walk around our living room easily.  We got it home, put it up and I immediately said, "Yeah, you were right. We should have gotten a bigger tree."


Still, it's pretty darn snazzy next to our fireplace.



I like the warmth and openness of our house.  We took a trip up to Fallingwater a couple of months ago and with this visit, as I walked into the great room of that amazing place, I was struck by how much like my own house it felt.  Not that this house, by any means, is as amazing as Fallingwater, but the overall feel of the place... it was just a little bit similar.  We'd been calling our house our "Fake Usonian" since we moved in and this was the first time I actually felt kind of like the title was deserved.

We're still trying to figure out how to decorate and where to put the furniture.  I've taken to a pretty unconventional set-up and people walk in, take a look, and say, "Well, that's interesting..."  To which, I say, "Bite me, YOU figure out where to put the couch."