Simple comforts that remind me of "home"

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I used to always consider myself more of a tea person until about 2 years and 3 months ago. In the past, when offered tea or coffee, I would always opt for tea. But for some reason, when we moved overseas, I started drinking coffee...everyday. I have no explanation of why I made the switch, other than comfort. For some reason, when we moved, I found a cup of coffee more comforting than tea. Strange isn't it?

Our entire first 2 years, we drank instant coffee and all of our true coffee friends would cringe their noses at us. My husband and I used to love  the instant coffee packets here that cost about 10 cents each. But this year, my husband and I have been making efforts towards healthier living, so we switched to filtered coffee. We started buying Starbucks coffee, like every good foreigner, but recently we bought a bag from a local coffee shop that friends highly recommended. My husband and I cannot usually tell the difference in coffee brands. Gasp. I know. So my husband was kind of shocked that we spent a few dollars more than our usual, buying this tiny bag of coffee. But then I drank my first cup of this brew and suddenly my dull tastebuds awakened😳. This coffee tastes so smooth! I treated myself to a second cup today because today is grading day in our homeschool (I only grade the kids schoolwork 2 times per week). I also only drink my coffee in this New York cup now, why? I don't know exactly why since my only attachment to NY is that my husband was born and raised there, but I have personally never lived there...I do love my husband a lot, so maybe it reminds me of him. 😍

Another strange thing about moving overseas is that I look forward to Christmas a ton more than I used to. I confess, I have always looked forward to Christmas, but this year, I got the itch to put up our tree in early October. Again, I have no idea why. Maybe it is because our dear friend is coming to visit during Christmas? We are all super excited for her visit...In my mind, I know that putting a Christmas tree up in October makes absolutely no sense, but in my heart it just made sense. Ha! As of now though, my mind and my husband have kept me in a reasonable place and we have not trimmed the tree yet.

A friend sent these cute cardboard leaves to us for Thanksgiving. So last weekend, instead of putting up the Christmas tree, I settled upon hanging these cute leaves on our living room plant. But then on Monday, I was still itching to do something festive, so I created this craft for my girls. 🎄🎄🎄