Dear Santa, it’s my first time purchasing my very own Christmas tree as an adult. I heavily documented it to commemorate the occasion. I know it’s only November 30th, but I’m ready when you are.

Adulthood takeaway: Christmas trees are not cheap, and neither are Christmas decorations in general. But the feeling, *smell* and overall vibe of our apartment right now is priceless.

I knew we could get a tall tree due to having abnormally sky-high ceilings in our living room, but we didn’t have a lot of horizontal real-estate for tree placement so we needed something no wider than 35 inches in diameter. All while we were browsing through the rows of trees at our local tree farm, Zack and I were chanting “tall and skinny, tall and skinny”.

We found her, brought her home, and I volunteered myself to a Target run (much to Zack’s relief) to get our tree some bling. Contemplating keeping her all year because this is the most homey that our home has ever felt. And yes, I’m aware that you can’t preserve a real tree in your home for 12 months, but let me dream.

As far as tree adornments go, I opted for a simple gold theme. If you look super closely I actually placed the ornaments in a gradient from silver at the tippy top to gold mid-way to dark crimson at the bottom. The gradient is definitley subtle in photos, so I’m thinking of getting even more crafty with it and hanging polaroids as ornaments as well to give our tree a little more pizzaz. Stay tuned for additional crafty tree decoration updates and possibly a tutorial? (I’m such a blogger now!)

I didn’t even consider getting a faux tree because of a few reasons. The primary being it would eat up a lot of storage space, and also who knows if I’ll want an even taller tree next year! Or a mini one! I’d like to keep my options open for future adulthood Christmases. But above all, THE SMELL. As a highly nostalgic human who associates smells with memories, I couldn’t bring myself to get a fake tree when I grew up with the smell of pine needles every Christmas.

But here’s a nifty adulthood life hack for ya: if you want your house / apartment / dorm room / studio to smell like Christmas without having a real tree, I happened upon the most perfect combination of candle scents by my all-time favorite candle brand, Voluspa that’ll do the trick. After years of important candle research (I’ve been buying these candles since college!) I can say with confidence that together these candles are the perrrrrfect Christmas combo. You’re welcome. (Exact candles will be linked along with my outfit details at the bottom of the post!)

Okay and last thing – can we talk about these boots? I found them at Nordstrom and they’re now my designated holiday boots. Okay, that’s all I needed to say. Thank you for reading, and see ya in the next one!

Shop Gray Malin Triptych – https://www.graymalin.com/products/coogee-beach-triptych

Shop Retro Kitchen Clock – http://amzn.to/2At4bia

Gold Wire Blanket Basket – http://bit.ly/2AV0Mcw

Capsule Gray Sofa – http://bit.ly/2AreT8f

SHOP MY EXACT OUTFITS BELOW!

SHOP MY HOME DECOR!