This weekend Laura and I purchased and put up the Christmas tree, strung pine garland and lights on the banister, and put up a shelf and a wreath over the TV. Just like that, wham! the apartment began to feel much more homelike, not to mention a whale of a lot more festive. The tree is beautiful – Laura picked out these little frosted globe lights that are really pretty, and we also picked up some fake pinecone-and-berry garland, a mess of little copper bells with stars cut out of them, a few tiny lanterns, and some green and red ball ornaments. To go along with the sort of rustic look we're assembling, Laura tied bits of twine to each of the ornaments and bells while I did a bunch of THESIS reading, and the end effect is really quite stunning. In short, the tree is fantastic. Photos to follow.

Aside from that, I plowed through a pile of THESIS stuff and missed getting a Wii by all of five minutes. (Which, I'm convinced, is for the better. If I still can't find one after all my papers are turned in, I may reevaluate that assessment.)

Next up: the Monday morning THESIS report.