Deck the Halls

Dominic and I haven't been able to match up our PTO very well this year. This has meant a lot of free time for me to do my thing. I wasn't sure what my thing was until all of a sudden this morning Christmas cheer hit me like a rock. I was driving along picking up nuts and fruit to make my holiday trail mix tins like any modern day scavenger when Mannheim Steamroller came on the radio. Not even two minutes into Fum, Fum, Fum and I was making a beeline for the nearest tree lot.

It turns out the nearest tree lot was the Hope Thru Housing farmer's market. Apparently HTH, a residential treatment center for men with substance abuse problems, replaced their tomatoes and potatoes with evergreens for the holiday season.

The men in the program run the farmer's market and tree lot as a part of their vocational training. HTH started about two years ago and invites men to live in a house and rehabilitate while learning some life skills and gaining work experience. Impressively, the market, trees, and craft item sales provide 60 percent of the organizations funding.

I brought my carefully-chosen pine home in the backseat and decorated it with pride. This 5-foot beauty earns one foot of it's height from that top branch. It sticks straight up all by itself and has been said to resemble a piece of asparagus. Who needs an angel when you've got produce?

Merry Christmas!

What Moves You

I've been thinking a lot about the places we have lived and how those places have shaped us. For the most part, hindsight makes this pretty easy:

Armenia shaped my career and taught me the value of keeping family close.
Seattle made me a fiancee, then a newlywed and taught us both how to be a little more outdoorsy.
New York educated our views on community and income.

We know exactly why we moved to Columbus in September. The reasons borrow a little from each of our previous experiences and ultimately having family close trumps all other decision-making factors.  

We are, however, still trying to find our way. We have everything we could possibly need: a church, a home, two good jobs and a car (it is the midwest after all). Now we just need to understand how we live here as Sarah and Dominic - not just as adolescent Sarah.

It's going to be a process, let the experiential learning commence.     

Gather Around

The table is complete! Nothing better than a dinner party to celebrate.

Aubrey, Rachel, Brooke and Jill came over to celebrate Thanksgiving.