Christmas 2011

I such a nice, fun, relaxing Christmas in Mississippi this year (technically, since this is January 2, it was last year).  Even though my sister and I live in the same city now, it was great to both be home together with our parents.  Per tradition, we had decorated our tree over Thanksgiving, so it was nice to return and see it again.  I had a whirlwind two weeks before I headed home, so I needed a break!  There were tacky sweater parties, JLW events, a book signing, and the annual Dirty Santa party that my girlfriends and I have.  After I had not one but THREE different gifts stolen from me, I ended up with my own gift--it was fortuitous that I bought a gift that I actually would have liked to receive!

Christmas decorations

gifts for Dirty Santa

sweet Maggie at home in Mississippi

Gus the Cat, who also lives in Mississippi

our 2011 Christmas tree

Also, I am super excited about my new Kindle Fire that Santa brought me for Christmas!  It's really cool, y'all--and it will save me mucho room on my bookshelf.  Unfortunately, since I don't yet own my dream home, or at least a home with an awesome library (at this point, I'd take a mediocre library), I appreciate having the option to buy books electronically and take them with me wherever I go.  

That said, I'm currently reading One Thousand White Women for my book club.  I'm about halfway through and really enjoying it so far.  I'll do a review once I finish it, and the next book on my list is The Paris Wife.  

I leave you with some images of my ideal home library.  You're welcome.

Tree Skirt 101

After trying to find a tree skirt for my Christmas tree that a) didn't look like it cost $5.99, b) didn't cost more than $80, and c) didn't look like I made it [I mean me, specifically], I saw this post on Design*Sponge about sewing your own reversible tree skirt.  I'm actually really happy with the one that I found, but in case you're a bit more DIY-esque than me, this looks semi-easy and kind of fun!

Pumpkin Dip

My book club met last night to discuss our latest selection, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (more in my next post).  It was my turn to host at my apartment, and I appreciated the motivation to have my Christmas decorations in place before I had visitors.  I actually considered not putting up my tree this year, but I'm glad that I did.  (And I'd like to take a second to comment on tree skirts; I didn't have one last year, and when I sent my mother a picture of my tree this year, she was horrified that my tree wasn't fully dressed.  Let me just tell you, a decent tree skirt that at a decent price is hard to come by.  Thank you, T.J. Maxx!)

While we always make time to discuss the book, we actually spend more time catching up over dinner and drinks.  Since I'm no chef, we ordered pizza for delivery, although I did make some delicious pumpkin dip, served with Ginger Snaps and Nilla Wafers.  This is actually my favorite variation on pumpkin dip so far, so I've shared the recipe below.

PUMPKIN DIP

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup pumpkin

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

dash nutmeg

Directions:

Let cream cheese warm to room temperature. Mix the cream cheese and pumpkin. Then add the powdered sugar and spices. Serve with Ginger Snaps or Vanilla Wafers.

So Holiday

Thanks to my darling sister for sending this my way (via Twitter); Kate Spade has shared the new holiday campaign via the Kate Spade Facebook page.  I love the colorful and whimsical styling of these shots, and if you're looking for anything to buy me for Christmas, look no further!