You've Got Mail!

I hurried home after class on Thursday, after receiving a text message saying that my apartment management office had a package for me. Lugging the box around the corner to my apartment, I ripped it open, eager to see what my friends had sent me! Inside the USPS box were some cards, granola bars, chai tea... and 20 individually wrapped Christmas presents! Aah, the suspense of Christmas! I still have to wait 2 weeks! I did, however, open the cards, which were super encouraging and fun to read, and then put the gifts under a little tiny tree that one of my teachers gave me, since she didn't want it anymore. Thank you Melissa, Sara, Megan, Beth, Liz, Lucy, Cathi, and the rest of you who contributed! I'm excited to see what's in there, and by the way, Christmas comes sooner for me than it does for you :)
Something just didn't seem right, though. Growing up, we always had a real tree. The scent of the greenery, the look of the needles, and having to move furniture to put a tree in its place remind me of Christmas, so having a 1 foot fake tree didn't quite seem real enough to me. Besides, the gifts seemed out of proportion compared to the tree. So yesterday, I set off on my bike, determined to at least find a bigger tree (knowing that a real one was out of the question). Here's what I ended up with!It's definitely larger than I was picturing, but when I chose my tree, the bar code on the box didn't work, so she sold me the larger one instead!

The next dilemma was how to get the large box home. I had ridden to the store, but this box was rather heavy and very large. After contemplating taking a taxi home and then coming back later to get my bike, I decided I wanted adventure, and loaded the box on the back of my bike! I set it behind me and held on to the tree with one hand and the handlebars with the other. It was definitely my largest bike load, and (I know this is shocking) I did receive quite a few strange looks, comments, and nudging friends to look at my wide load. As I rode, I pictured myself taking out innocent bystanders, forgetting that my bike was now 4 feet wide. However, my venture was successful, and I arrived safely at home to set up the tree!

Today's task: finding lights and ornaments to decorate the tree!