This day last year Portland was covered in snow. We weren’t here but I heard all about it – “The Snowpocolypse”. Christmas this year in Portland is cold but sunny and beautiful – a very clear day. Peter and I went to pick up a fire pit I bought on Craigslist and we gasped as we drove up a hill and the view revealed itself. We have been in Portland just over six months now and the mountains are still quite magical to us.

I have been pretty unmotivated to do Christmasy stuff. Not because I don’t like the holiday but.. I dunno, it just wasn’t in my heart this year. We’re away from family and not exchanging gifts. We did finally get the tree up and as we unpacked decorations found this note:

Last year as we packed away Christmas stuff Peter slipped in this note, knowing the next time we unpacked these things would be in our new home.

Here’s the humongous tree:

I bought it off Craigslist last year in St. Louis. I am seriously considering getting a real tree for the first time next year… because they are SO cheap here! I guess it makes sense – Christmas trees are grown in Oregon and Washington and shipped to the rest of the country. There are so many neighborhood tree lots selling trees from $10 up. No kidding. I love the smell of real trees but they always seemed like a lot of work and I grew up always having a fake tree. But I might take the leap. For that price I might just get a little tabletop tree for our office to make it smell great.

Stockings on the fireplace… I kind of threw all the Christmas stuff up on the mantle, didn’t feel like putting nails in the wall since we are still figuring out the layout of this room.

A really creepy ornament my grandma gave me:

One of my favorite ornaments from one of my best friends Stephen:

(I adore Day of the Dead)

Finally I got a little crafty this year. Inspired by this Eddie Ross Tutorial, I made a wreath with $10 in Ikea ornaments and a coat hanger.

It needs a ribbon but I wrapped a mardi gras necklace around the hook because that was what I had on hand.

I am going to try to comb clearance after Christmas this year for colorful ornaments and make more wreaths on the cheap.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday. Lookout for a belated post about my adventures at Portland’s Anti-con next.