De-Christmasing

I finally took down Christmas on Sunday... later than most I know, but I felt like we deserved an extension since the decorations went up late because of the move and all.

The decorations look so sad waiting for their turn to be blanketed in paper towels and newspaper before being shoved into a box until next year...

In need of Christmas cheer

Apparently it was past due time to take the tree down, check out all the needles that fell down while pulling off the decorations:

Our new green carpet

Luckily for my spirits, there are a few decorations that will be keeping us company for a while. This cheery red table cloth, candy canes from the tree (I'm thinking cookies???) and mini ornaments that provide some decoration for my lonely orchid year round :)

Yes, that is a recliner playing "head chair" at our folding dining room table. We moved in less than a month ago! It's super duper comfortable... and makes a great "temporary office" chair!!

But now what do we do with that gaping corner of the living room where the tree used to live??? To cheer myself up, I tried my hand at a 2nd batch of homemade pasta (mixed the ingredients in the right order this time... muuuuuch easier! Also, added some pistachio oil, we'll see how that turns out). Then I made bread! It turned out great! For the first time ever I tried the "roll it out, then roll it up" method (like this), and the texture of the inside came out very nice. Success! Yaaay! Between all the bread and meringues and leftover whipped cream and cake mess, i think i gained about 5 pounds this weekend... mmmMMMmmm!