Makin' Merry

Back in April, the Mister and I decided to move into a much smaller place to ease up some of the paycheck-to-paycheck we'd been feeling around the 1st and the 15th. After much research and cost/benefit analysis, we settled on a new home in a really nice apartment community closer to downtown but still more affordable than the money pit of a rental house to which we'd become enslaved.

I knew I'd love it. One bathroom. YES! Two-car, attached garage. YES!! First-floor apartment. YES!!! The model apartment above us with no shared walls. YES!!!! What's NOT to love?!

Turns out going from roughly 1600 square feet to less than 950 takes a bit of getting used to, but i think we've finally hit our stride. Part of what I love most about living here are the wonderful amenities: pet-sitting, package holding and delivery, concierge service for drycleaning, etc. These are all fantastic.
And then there's the community itself.

Listen, I know whenever people are involved there are bound to be irritations and compromises. Believe me...we have those. BUT we also have a home that decorates for the holidays so beautifully that--as we rounded the corner into the community after a long trip to Virginia and North Carolina for Thanksgiving, the gorgeous lights and tree all lit up for twilight nearly took my breath away. It was so unexpected and so beautiful. From the backseat, Jackson chimed in, " I like your Christmas!"

We're lucky...we have a view of the community tree from our porch! We brings me to the purpose of this post. This Thursday night is our community Christmas party. I know this because our friend and neighbor Tiffani knows that we never use our front door and makes sure to tell us when we need to check for a community-wide door-hanger announcement. Well...there will also be a porch/balcony decorating contest, and the prize winner gets up to $100 off next month's rent. I wasn't nearly as excited about this until our maintenance director, Mike, informed me that all the decorated porches go into a hat for a random drawing to win that hundred bucks.

Game ON!!!

Here's what I've got to show for my efforts this afternoon.







Wish us luck. Oh, and Merry Christmas, Y'all. Won't you be my neighbor?