It's beginning to look a (little) like Christmas

Around November 20th or so I started noticing Christmas decorations and the makings of Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets) going up around town.  Things are full-blown Christmas now -- even Christmas lights are going up on balconies and in apartment windows -- and yet my apartment remained bare.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore and bought some stuff at the local cheapo store. It's not a dollar store but it's definitely cheap.  They actually had some pretty good stuff in there!  Since the kitchen is our only communal room I put all the decorations in there.  Here's what  I managed to do:

Bought a pine bough at the florist down the street for 1euro. Put a bow on it. Still kind of bare but whatever

Roomie used some flour to turn Dino the fake IKEA plant into a "snow-dusted tree." I added on some wooden stars to add extra festivity.

Bought a mini table runner, a wicker star, and a garland. Hung some ornaments from it. Still is kind of bare looking but at least I had an excuse to get rid of that hideous paper party garland they had hanging there before.

So.. That is the extent of my christmas decorations for now. Not sure what else we will do, but I feel like we should add at least a little bit more... 

I also had a wonderful surprise when I came home!  Had this convo with Roomie. He starts off with saying Santa was here. I didn't know what he meant....

Until I got home and saw that my Zalando order had arrived! For those of you who aren't familiar with the amazingness of Zalando, let me enlighten you.. Basically you can order WHATEVER kind of clothes you want, at hugely discounted prices. You have 100 days to try out the clothes and if you don't like them, you return them no questions asked. If you order with a German bank account, you don't even have to pay for 30 or 50 days (I forget which). It's crazy! Roomie works there and he gets a discount on top of the discount, so of course I am going to be abusing this. 

Happiness in a box. Or three boxes, rather

It is perfect since I moved here with only the clothes in my small suitcase. Packing for a month of backpacking in southern France in October was seriously insufficient for moving to Berlin in winter. Thankfully I have this amazing connection and was able to get some much-needed  warm clothes -- two winter coats, some more long sleeved shirts, another pair of jeans.. 

Finally ready to go out in style, no more grungy hoodies layered on top of each other