Our First Christmas Tree

(I hope it's not weird that I'm posting Christmas stuff after Christmas. I even have a post about what we did on Christmas Eve that I'll probably write tomorrow. My mom always says that the holidays aren't over and the decorations don't come down until Three Kings Day (January 6th), so by that logic, I think I'm ok. Anyway, today we're gonna talk about Christmas trees.)

This year I was really, really looking forward to getting a Christmas tree. A real Christmas tree. And by real, I don't even mean it has to be freshly cut and dripping with sap, I would have been fine with a fake tree, as long as it was a respectable tree size, and didn't look like, well, this: 

Because that's the tree we had used for the last five years. I bought it at Sears (RIP), and it would sit on our coffee table, because our tiny apartment just didn't have the space for anything bigger. Don't get me wrong, Charlie Brown Tree has it's own personal charm to it (and next year I'll probably put it up in addition to a big tree; this year it's taking a well earned break), but it's definitely not what comes to mind when you think of Christmas trees.

While it was a bit late in the game, we did finally get our tree. And yes, it's real (wiggles eyebrows suggestively). I love it so much! We were pretty concerned about how the kitties would react, but surprisingly, they seem to just like sitting and staring at it just as much as we do. They also like to sit under it in the dark...I don't have an explanation for that part, but it is cute.

I know the bulb ornaments aren't the most original. They're more of a placeholder until next time, when we hope to have a more exciting ornament collection. I added blue sheet/makeshift tree skirt as an homage to our Charlie Brown Tree (and to keep the cats away from the water in the base).

But to make things a bit more fun, we also added these skulls we had bought for Halloween and never used. The ornament hooks attached to them surprisingly well. You can also see the only other two ornaments we had (however, we were later gifted a Darth Vader ornament for Christmas, but these pictures were taken before that - thank you for Darth Vader, Paige, sorry he didn't make it into the pics!). The Yoda is from my mom (thanks, mom!).

We also hung up a bit of lights in the windows. We wanted them outside, obviously, but for some reason we can't find the freaking outlets outside, and we don't have a garage to plug them into, either. I mean, there has to be one somewhere, right? There has to be. The neighbors have one. But I've lost track of how many times we circled the house and couldn't find any. But we had already bought the lights, and dammit, I was gonna hang them somewhere.

No, the neighbors can't see them, but at least I can. 

Hi

I read a lot of blogs. Big blogs, small blogs, in-between blogs...and more than half of them will have an "about me" page, or something like that, and will include the sentence "I originally started this blog because I moved and wanted to keep in touch with my family and friends back home."  Today, it seems that person is me.

I guess I'll start by explaining my current life situation for anyone that doesn't know yet, or still doesn't understand what the heck my job actually is (that's ok, it took me awhile to figure out, too).

I live in Maryland. The summers are hot and humid, the winters are wet and cold. No, it hasn't snowed yet. The humidity is kinda gross but otherwise I'm ok with the weather. We live in a townhouse complex with a HOA that sends you letters when your grass is too long, but joke's on them because your grass can't get too long if it's dead! (In my defense, it was already on its way out when we got here...I'll deal with it later.) Apparently I have an accent here (but excuse me, I'M not the one that pronounces water as wooder).

I work overnights in a crisis center. A crisis center is a facility where individuals going through personal crises can obtain help or advice, and also serves as a clearinghouse for information and coordinates action during an emergency or disaster. I grabbed that from Google. A lot of the people that stay here are working through substance abuse or behavioral health issues. It's not a rehab center or a hospital. It's more like a place you can stay while you're figuring out your next move for treatment (which could be a rehab center, or hospital, or even just a family members house that you know is a safe space).

What the drive to work looks like (well, in the daytime - it doesn't look like that when I'm going in at 11pm hahah)

I guess the most exciting thing that's happened here so far is that we have cats now! We've wanted cats for years, but our landlord in California wouldn't allow it (even with a pet deposit; hella rude). They're four month old siblings that we found at the SPCA! Even though I've had other cats in the past, this is my first time having kittens. It's...a lot of work. But we're so happy to have them.

This one is Mulder. He's the larger of the two because he has a crazy appetite. He's also the bigger snuggler. He likes belly rubs!

Here is Scully. She's very loving but shows it more in playfulness than snuggles. She also keeps farting in Andrew's face, which we think is intentional because she runs away every time she does it.

Of course the next big thing coming up is Christmas. My first Christmas season away from home so it'll be different for sure, but I have my own little holiday bucket list that I'm excited to get started on! I'd like to get a regular sized Christmas tree for the first time, but I can't decide if I should because I'm sure the kitties will be all over it. We'll see. A lot of people have recommended Lights on the Bay, which is one of those parks you can drive through with all the holiday light displays, so I'd like to check that out. Later in the month we're seeing The Washington Chorus at The Kennedy Center, some candle light concert thing they do every year (honestly I'm not entirely sure what it is, Andrew's mom bought tickets for everyone and said it's really great hahah).

That's enough for now, I think. I ordered a handheld, cordless vacuum on black friday, and I'm gonna use it to get cat hair off the stairs, woohoo!