White Christmas

This past week it was just snowfall after snowfall with little reprieve for my poor poor shivering bones. At least we will most definitely be having a white Christmas. Today, though, the skies finally cleared, the sun came out to shine, and surprisingly enough, 15 degrees felt deliciously warm. I swear, I wasn't even shivering one bit for these photos. Even, though, the snow is truly beautiful and a wonderful sight to see, it is the mortal enemy of heels, especially suede heels. Maybe it'll be just straight up boots on Sundays for this girl from here on out, but ha! We all know that's not gonna happen. ;) Sundays are for heels. Guys, I'm so so happy to be in the full swing of the Christmas season. It's truly and honestly my favorite season of the year! In my family, holiday territory is split between my older sister and me, Thanksgiving belongs to my older sister, and Christmas belongs to me. I'm the official decorator in the family and I take it upon myself to spread Christmas cheer whenever possible. Call me Cindy Lou Who if you will. :) I think I became the official Cindy Lou of the family because my mom has never been much of a decorator and Christmas decorating just always seemed to stress her out and give her a headache. I remember Christmas' past when my grandma would come to visit she and I, along with my siblings, would go crazy pulling out all of our Christmas decor and spend hours upon hours converting our house into a winter wonderland. Those were such happy, happy times. I remember how we'd always pull out the radio, tune it to a Christmas station, and dance to the holiday music while we decorated. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was always a favorite of my grandma's and we would listen to it on repeat until we all felt like going back in history and destroying that nasty little Rudolph. ;) I remember that when everyone else got tired and would eventually give up on the decorating my grandma and I would stay strong and decorate all the way through midnight.  As the years passed everyone else seemed to show less and less interest in decorating for Christmas, but I've always wanted to hang onto my spirit of childhood and getting giddy for Christmas is one of the biggest characteristics of the childhood spirit, so year after year I would take it upon myself to make sure our house was decorated. I don't know why, but as a child I promised myself that I would try my hardest not to loose that magical warm feeling that I felt during the Christmas season. This year, though, I thought I might finally have to give up on hanging onto to that Childhood magic. This Christmas will be the first Christmas without my dear grandma and I thought that I would be too sad to care about keeping that childhood Christmas excitement going. Surprisingly enough, though, so far, this Christmas season I have felt that special warm spirit that I felt as a child, the strongest. Sure, the first time hearing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" or "Oh Come all Ye Faithful" (my grandma taught me that one and it was the first Christmas hymn I knew by memory) brought a little pang to my heart and couple of tears down my eyes, but for once they were tears of tender, warm remembrance rather than sadness.

I think the passing of my grandma this year has actually helped me better remember the true spirit of Christmas. It has kept in my mind the knowledge of what I'm really celebrating, the birth of Christ, and the fact that since he lived and died I will be able to see my Grandma again, that it isn't the end of the road. This Christmas season my heart is full of such a peace and gratitude that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) My heart is full. My heart is truly full. Just the other night my sister and I were able to have such a special, magical experience. We were heading toward our local Target when we passed by a small clearing with a few trees. The trees were lit with Christmas lights and the snow all around was untouched and sparkling, and amidst that small glittering clearing there was a small family of four deer gracefully grazing. The road was completely empty so we stopped to just drink in the presence of such delicate and pure creatures. We felt so touched to be able see them. Their presence reminded me that amidst the hustle and bustle of this crazy busy world there is still innocence and beauty around. I don't know why, but seeing them there just innocently standing in the sparkling snow made me wonder how anyone can question the existence of God. I'm so happy we were able to see them. :)

 {Gap: tie front button up similar; Space 46  Boutique: tulle skirt; American Eagle: glittered gold belt; h&m: pointed toe pumps; Target earrings}

I think I mentioned in my last post that I love dressing up during the holiday season. For that reason, I take getting dressed on Sundays during the holidays very seriously. ;) I got this tulle skirt about a week ago from an online boutique called, Space 46 Boutique, that specializes in making tulle skirts. I know I had previously promised you all a DIY for a tulle skirt, which would've been more like a HYSDI (Have Your Sister Do It), but after attempting it, it became very very clear why tulle skirts cost so much. It's difficult to cut evenly, the sewing is a pain in the butt, and it's just difficult all around. If I could successfully make and sell tulle skirts I would charge a butt load too. After a LOT of research I found Space 46. It has excellent reviews and compared to a lot of other shops I looked into, the price was very reasonable. I'm not gonna lie, the skirt still cost me a pretty penny, but since I was paid for getting my wisdom teeth out I just dipped into those funds a lil' bit. ;) I'm so excited to wear the crap out of this skirt. I can promise you guys you will be seeing a heck of a whole lot more of this bad boy. For my first time styling this skirt, though, I decided to go with an all white classic sort of look. I then paired it all with my handy dandy glittery gold belt, because what says Christmas spirit more than tulle and gold glitter, right? Rather than accenting the look with a classic red or green I decided to accent it with some powder blue earrings. I think a soft blue is the perfect unconventional Christmas color. It just screams winter wonderland to me. Whelp, I guess that's all for today, I hope you're all having a lovely holiday season!

Much love!