One year ago today we moved into our house! It was love at first sight then and I can truly say that I love it even more now. I was never really sure I would become a homeowner because of finances and the commitment it took — you have to know you’ll stay in an area for a long time which is the meaning of  “settle down” — but when we got engaged, we knew the time was right. And we knew wanted a simple backyard wedding. I blogged a little about the experience, so I won’t repeat it here, but it was definitely one of the best purchases we’ve made.

Today I’m thankful that we were able to get a real frazier fir Christmas tree this year. I haven’t had a real tree since I lived at home, which was almost 10 years ago. I’m also equally grateful that we purchased our tree from TROSA, a substance abuse recovery program. I’m happy to contributes funds to their programs because I think they help give a lot of people second chances, and there’s really nothing better than that.

So we got the tree home and decorated it, and it looks awesome. We were able to retire the artificial tree I’ve been using for the past three or four years. It’s pretty small and scraggly so we lovingly nicknamed it the Charlie Brown tree. Our real tree smells fresh and wintery and it’s much bigger so we had to buy a few extra ornaments. But it looks beautiful and fits perfectly and I’m excited to have it up for the next month. Definitely makes the holidays feel warm and cozy in our new house. For that, I’m thankful.