Scenes from Christmas

Here are some quiet little scenes from Christmas. I really liked my outfit and thought I'd share it here before the clock ran out on 2012. I wore pretty much the same thing on Thanksgiving as I have the same dress in navy blue and matched it with navy tights. The sweater (that buckle!), locket, and shoes were all the same. I guess it became my easy, go-to, pretty outfit for the latter part of the year.

The tree greens in tea cups served as a quasi-centerpiece for our Christmas dinner table. I am hesitant to disassemble them and will probably leave them out for a while longer. This will placate any longings to leave the actual Christmas tree up, I think :)

I hope the new year is good to all of you.

Good Tidings

I couldn't resist sharing this sweet inscription from inside one of my great-grandmother's books. A book she received for Christmas in 1898, no less! I only happened upon this just recently and apart from how delighted I was at the discovery, it was rather seasonally appropriate.

Merry Christmas, dear readers. I hope your celebrations are happy and joyful. To those who may not celebrate Christmas, I wish you joy and peace all the same. Good tidings to you!

Red Velvet Sunset

I hope you all enjoyed a very merry and delightful Christmas. My warmest and happiest sentiments are extended to you! How did you celebrate?

Before dinner on Friday I attended a candlelight Christmas Eve service with one of my dearest friends and her husband. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it was a real treat on top of it being Christmas! Toward the end of the service we both ended up spilling wax on ourselves. Oops! We were probably worse than half the children there! She let out a little yelp and then I had a hard time keeping my composure while we sang ''Silent Night" (which is a shame because it's one of my favorite carols to sing).

Christmas day was spent in the company of family. My sister and I exchanged gifts with our mother and grandmother in the morning, complete with leftover quiche for breakfast. Mm mmm. Then we trekked over to our dad's to have Christmas dinner with him and one of our (many) uncles. Our brother joined us in the evening after work which solidified it as a very lovely day.

This was my outfit for the day's festivities. I was excited to wear the dress since the day I bought it, but it needed some serious attention first. It was frightfully long and a friend of mine kindly hemmed it for free. I was all ready to pay her for her efforts, but she resisted and we enjoyed a nice visit while she pinned, snipped, and sewed.

Big Christmas grin!

With the few remaining minutes of daylight, my sister and I ran outside to take these photos. The warmth of the wood stove was greatly missed, but we endured. We both think the above photo funny, so that's worth the time spent out in the cold, right?

The lace collar and the buttoned sleeves are my favorite bits about this dress! I'm trying to scheme up other ways to wear it this winter that are less Christmas-y. I can't banish it to the closet just yet... Speaking of banishing things to the closet, here are my favorite heels that only see the outside world once or twice a year. I need to work on that, too.

Laura Ashley dress: thrifted, Tights: Target, Shoes: Nina, Ring: Papyrus

O Tannenbaum

This will most likely be my last post until after Christmas. Since I'm pretty excited for that day to arrive I thought I'd share one of my very favorite things about Christmastime: Christmas trees! I suppose like a bird I'm attracted to glint-y, shiny things. Haha.

There are many things I love about Christmas. The most important being the true reason behind the celebration, but for today I'll stick to ornaments and tree boughs.

My siblings were pretty busy this year, so mostly all of the tree decorating was left to me. No problem there! At home we have this funny looking tree that our Dad chopped down. My sister will laugh as she reads this and attest that he always finds ''the little tree that could.'' They're not always picture perfect, but you can't help but love them! Hehe. I couldn't get a decent picture of it or the charming little rustic ornaments we have (a birch wood moose, a tiny canoe, metal fish and mini antlers), but trust me when I say it looks good!

What is it that makes Christmas trees so magical? All the excitement, anticipation and merriment we associate with them, of course! I love sitting back and admiring them after they go up and get adorned. The soft glow of the lights and tiny shimmers from reflective ornaments still make me as giddy as when I was a child. I love the sight of a Christmas tree at nighttime illuminated through a window almost as much as I love being snug on the couch with the tree twinkling before me!

The photos in this post are of the tree at my grandmother's house. My mother was all excited about tinsel this year, so for the first time in who knows how long we tinsel-ed our little hearts out! My only issue with artificial trees is that they don't have that smile-inducing evergreen smell, but other than that I don't really mind them. They still get the job done, right?

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Your branches green delight us.
They are green when summer days are bright;
They are green when winter snow is white.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,

Much pleasure dost thou bring me!
For ev’ry year the Christmas tree,
Brings to us all both joy and glee.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure dost thou bring me!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,

Thy candles shine out brightly!
Each bough doth hold its tiny light,
That makes each toy to sparkle bright.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Thy candles shine out brightly!

See that sweet angel atop a bell in the last photo? My grandmother has had that in her possession since her childhood in the 1930s.

Do you have any favorite Christmas tree ornaments? Favorite Christmas stories? Feel free to share!

Merry Christmas!
♥ Luke 2:9-14 ♥

All is calm, All is bright

The hustle and bustle of the Christmas weekend is finally winding down. It feels great to relax and I'm taking advantage of this down time with a cup of chamomile tea. How was your Christmas (if you celebrate)? Mine was nice as usual complete with lots of family and lots of good food. I broke away from my family for a few hours on Thursday to attend one of the Christmas Eve candle light services at church. I love singing carols in a church atmosphere; my favorites being, "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" and "Silent Night." Do you have any favorite Christmas songs or carols?

I mentioned in my previous post that I'd share some photos of my recent Wallet-friendly Wednesday finds incorporated into a few outfits. So, staying true to my word, here they are:

Christmas Eve

Blouse: Vintage via Salvation Army, Skirt: Old Navy, Belt: gift from Erin, Tights: TJMaxx, Shoes: Target

Sparkly tights! I hemmed and hawed over these beauties for a few weeks before finally deciding that they needed to come home with me. The tree in the background isn't our real and proper tree. My mother put up two trees this year; one in the sun room (pictured above) and another (blitzed out in color) in the living room. I just noticed that some of the lights at the bottom of this tree went out. Aww!

Christmas Day

Lace trim cardigan: H&M, Skirt: Salvation Army, Tights: Target, Shoes: Nina

I've had these houndstooth heels for a few years now and they seem to have taken on the role as my Christmas shoes. I need to try working them into more outfits. They're much too pretty to wear only once or twice a year!

♥ Luke 2:9-14 ♥

Merry Christmas!

(This sweet little image was found on a Google Image Search for "Vintage Christmas Card")

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I like to start thinking about all things Christmas right after Thanksgiving. Decorations seem to pop up earlier and earlier each year in the stores and on peoples' lawns, but I'm content with waiting until the end of November. I even wait until about this time to begin listening to Christmas songs and carols. Ooh, how I love Christmas carols. For me, the essence and impact of the carols increases with each day until Christmas finally arrives. I love the imagery and thoughts that they provoke, reminding and reaffirming the glory and majesty of Christ the King!

Last year I purchased Sufjan Steven's Christmas compilation, Songs for Christmas. I'm a big fan of Sufjan's creativity and the wonders he works through his music. Banjos! Oboes! Glockenspiels! Definitely give some of his renditions a listen this Christmas season if you haven't already.

(Photo from Amazon.com)