This Christmas... Ornaments For My Tree!

It`s rather late into the holiday season and I`m still without a Christmas tree. I haven`t been able to go pick up a tree because of final exams, and if I had, this would have been my first year with a full sized Christmas tree. Meanwhile I still have the mini one from jerkface that I will be keeping in my room to cheer me up :) If I do get a tree though, these are the ornaments that I would like to buy to decorate my new tree:

1. Feather Snowman Ornament - Pier 1 Imports $5.95 Isn`t he the cutest little fella? My mom walked in and pointed at him saying "he`s just two pom poms stuck together with a little hat and scarf attached to it." Very very cute :')
2. Polar Bear Baby Stocking - Chapters Indigo $7.50 (original price $15) This little stocking reminds me of Snowball and is perfect for my tree. The stocking is initially meant for home decor rather than an ornament.
3. Personalized Woody Wagon Bear Family Ornament - Walmart ~$15.00 I have always loved the idea of a personalized ornament (truthfully I love personalized anything) and this one is perfect to reminisce family road trips in my family. Walmart offers other family sizes and other designs for personalized ornaments. You can change the names printed on the ornament, as well as add a sibling or two to it :)
4. Natural Hedgehog Ornament - Pier 1 Imports $5.95 He is just adorable. End of story.
5. Glitter Tree Ornament - Pier 1 Imports $3.95 I love the gradient of the green glitter on this tree, and I love glitter. It`s a tree on a tree! Get it? (Bad humour, sorry)
6. Vinylmation Jingle Smells 2 Series Goofy - Disney Store $12.95 I love Goofy ;)

Finding ornaments online is actually quite difficult to do, but these are the ones that I discovered and I like them all very much. Some for personal and sentimental reasons, and some just because they`re adorable and pretty.. Hopefully I will snag a tree before Christmas arrives!

This Christmas... My Not-So-Secret Wishlist

Here are a few materialistic things on my wishlist that are all under $50! This year I am on the look out for forms of storage and home decor, along with some beauty things. (For any of my friends, any of those categories will do if you`re here looking for ideas) I couldn`t think of more than seven, or rather the hour is late for me to think of more than seven things, so here are seven things that I want for Christmas. And maybe if you know someone remotely like me, these might make good gifts! However my greatest wish for Christmas is that everyone I know will stay in good health. Please note that all prices are in CAD.

1. Candles; Or some other kind of air freshener that I do not need to spray. I like to keep the door to my bedroom closed to keep the room warm during the winter, so I`d like to try lighting a few scented candles to keep it smelling fresh. Bath and Body Works is doing a lovely 2 for $5 on their mini candles, and while I was in the store I fell in love with the smell of their Winter candle.
2. Storage Boxes; Any of the ones like this, or other clear boxes that are sturdy, so I can begin my room re-organization project for this winter. I found these ones on the Container Store website (we don`t have the Container Store in Vancouver or Canada I believe, which is a shame) but I know they aren`t hard to find.
3. The Buddha Board; This one is just for fun and doesn`t have any practical use to it at all, but it`s a stone board that you write on with a calligraphy brush dipped in water. I saw this in a little boutique in Kitslano with C and B, but while I was Christmas shopping with N, I ran into this little board again in Chapters. Currently on their online website, it is on sale for $26.25 off the original $35!
4. Ceramic Mugs; I adore mugs that are unique and have simple and elegant designs on them, like this discontinued and out of stock Starbucks Three Regions mug. If anyone can their hands on this, I will love you forever. But I tend to dislike mugs that have tacky sayings on them, or mugs with designs that look like they`ve been compiled in the Windows Paint program. The best part is that a nice mug can come as cheap as $1.
5. Tarte Maracula Creaseless Concealer; Before UBC I did not feel like I needed concealer on my face, and truthfully am still not sure I do. But if I were ever to try a concealer, I`d like to try this Tarte concealer in the colour Light. They are easily available at Sephora for $31. Always include a gift receipt if you are getting makeup as a gift so that the recipient can exchange for the right skin tone!
6. Storage Cart; Anything like this. I also found this one on the Container Store website, but I am sure they`re easily found elsewhere. I like how I can organize different types of crafts in the little drawers. Any form of storage for me this winter really, friends :)
7. Wrap Ring; I love unique/custom wire jewelry on Etsy. I`ve had my eye on this ring for a very long time, and it comes in gold, silver, black and a copper-brown for roughly $7 before shipping. Any custom jewelry will make a girl like me very happy, especially knowing I will be one of few to have it.

So that wraps up all the things that I want this Christmas. You`ll note that they`re all relatively random things, and this is because I do not happen to have a long wishlist this year and had to scrape my mind for ideas. I consider this an accomplishment though, to be able to separate myself from my materialistic wants, but that`s it! I tried to include things that spoke about me: my love for organization, my love for unique items, and my love for beauty and makeup.

With all that said, happy Christmas shopping everybody! I`m off to finish studying for my last final of 2012 and pick up a few last gifts this week for my friends and family as well !

Pearl of China by Anchee Min

Anchee Min's Pearl of China takes place before and during Mao's takeover of China. (A side note: I really enjoy historical fiction, and this period of Chinese history--Mao's takeover, the eight years of war with Japan, followed by the four years of civil war in China, in particular strikes my interest. I am on a hunt for more Chinese historical fiction novels, so do not be surprised to see more in the near future.) We learn the story of Pearl S. Buck (a famous writer in the 1930s, who grew up in China) through her friendship with a fictional character and our protagonist, Willow. I was first captured by the writing in the first paragraph of the novel:

Before I was Willow, I was Weed. My grandmother, NaiNai, insisted that naming me Weed was better. She believed that the gods would have a hard time making my life go lower if I was already at the bottom. Papa disagreed. "Men want to marry flowers, not weeds." They argued and finally settled for Willow, which was considered "gentle enough to weep and tough enough to be made into farming tools." I always wondered what my mother would have thought if she had lived. (Min 3)

The naming of this child foreshadows the struggles she will face as a young girl raised in poverty. The rest of this novel shows that she really will live up to the name Willow. Min managed to paint a lovely picture of the legacy of Pearl Buck in China by telling the story through Willow's perspective. The test of friendship and themes of religion plays a key role in her story, as well as themes of love and inevitable loss during times of poverty and war. A touching story, that I would recommend to anyone who has a love for Chinese culture and/or Chinese history.