(A Few) of My Favorite Yuletide Things

 Not my real house...wait, can they do that??

 By the time I arrive home in Maine tomorrow evening, it will have been the longest I’ve ever been away. Considering I spent a semester abroad in Denmark, and now live only a short flight down the east coast, this is quite impressive.

If by impressive I mean, unbearable. I miss home.

As my anticipation for Maine and the holidays mounts (along with my homesickness), I’ve relied on some of my favorite things to get me through those Christmas blues and keep the spirit of a Maine Christmas alive here in the city. (Sure, we have the tree at Rockefeller Center, the Nutcracker by the New York City Ballet, and one of the largest Santa-suit pub crawls in the world…but do we have Christmas trees made entirely of lobster pots?? Um, no. No we do not). 

So in celebration of heading north tomorrow, and to get me through one.more.day, here are a few of my favorite Yuletide things!

My favorite Christmas scarf (courtesy of my brother, Ian): It's super cozy and gives my usual black-on-black NYC uniform a pop of festive color. I've worn it every day since Thanksgiving...er, Halloween...er, okay fine, Labor Day.

Good Maine Folks: The Down East "Maine For the Holidays" issue arrived just before Thanksgiving. I cried. Check out the aforementioned lobster pot Christmas tree.

Snowflake Bentley Christmas ornaments: We started collecting these as a family years ago, and now we all have them on our own trees. They come out with a new one every year, and they remind me of colder, cleaner climes. (Read more about Snowflake Bentley here — pretty sure we were separated at birth!)

My pup, Tucker: He loves Christmas and snow as much as we do. Lucky for me, he's also my mom's favorite photo-bombing subject, so I get constant puppy pics no matter where I am!

Christmas Shows: I know I know, this isn't specifically a Maine thing...but I like to keep my holiday calendar booked with Christmas shows and festivities (here, Carnegie Hall for the Vienna Boys Choir) to keep the spirit alive, no matter how bust the season!