On December 16th, Chris and I celebrated our “golden” anniversary. 16 years of marriage on the 16th. Since a big trip wasn’t in the budget, not even a small trip, Chris decided to do something different to mark this important milestone. We didn’t just celebrate our anniversary “day”, we celebrated anniversary month! It started with him buying me a bouquet of beautiful flowers on the 1st. I didn’t get a photo of them right away, so they aren’t at their best, but seriously, they were gorgeous.
We wished each other “happy anniversary month” every chance we got. And we tried especially hard to be kind, patient and loving towards one another. It was a great anniversary. The shrimp risotto, night on the town shopping, and awesome movie on the actual day weren’t bad either. 😉
I was at the store a few weeks before Christmas, waiting in line to pay, and started glancing through the plastic bins of miscellaneous stuff they have for sale there. That’s when I spied these gorgeous babies and snapped up every one they had. 
I was super excited about these for several reasons. 1) Candy canes aren’t actually widely available here. You can find them in a few specialty shops, naturally at overinflated prices, but it’s definitely not something the Swiss associate with Christmas, at all. 2) They are big. I have been noticing for the past few years, that the cute little decorations I started collecting when we lived in our tiny basement apartment just don’t work well in our large attic apartment. They end up looking like clutter, rather than decor. So these were a great size. 3) They were the right color! I am a very, very, very traditional girl when it comes to Christmas colors. No pink, no turquoise, no mint green, no pewter; just red, green and gold, thankyouverymuch. There were some pink ones in the bin as well, but I left them there for the avant garde Christmas decorators. 4) They beefed up my homemade ornaments from a couple years ago. Now, with the candy canes in between them, I can space it out along the whole curtain rod area in the living room, and it looks great and very festive. Before, the balls alone were looking more like an afterthought, than a well designed display. 5) They were glittery. enough said.
This next picture isn’t allowed to have much commentary. If you want to know the deeper meaning you will have to ask me in person. I can’t leave a cyber trail, or so I am told. 🙂