Holiday Nostalgia

Meeeeeeeeerry Christmas! I’ll tell ya, the holidays as an adult really bring on a bit of nostalgia to my much simpler childhood. My siblings and I were brought up in a household with parents that wanted us to have a memorable holiday every year - so much, I’ll say they went to fairly great lengths to make sure that it happened. I remember one year, probably around that age where I began to question everything in regards to the Santa Claus tale, my parents had someone dress in a full Santa costume, gray beard and all, and recorded him bringing in our presents in the middle of the night. When I tell y’all I was SHOOK. Like, literally no one could convince me this was all made up. I went back to school telling all the kids that my parents had video proof of Santa and that I saw it with my own two eyes; he was bringing in the bike that I specifically asked for, and the video also showed several other presents that he’d already brought in. We always spent the holidays at my grandparents house, so on Christmas morning, our presents from Santa would be placed on a certain part of the couch; mine would be on one end and my younger brother’s on another, and then my older brother’s would be on an armchair. It was a cute tradition, no doubt, and they kept it up until my younger brother started putting two and two together. I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t until 7th grade that I fully accepted Santa’s nonexistence. Through all the nonsensical aspects of the tale, such as flying reindeer and an obese man coming through our chimney, it took overhearing a boy in my social studies class say “how are you not going to believe in Santa when he’s your parents” for it to really hit me. In my head, I was just like “wow, this boy may really be on to something????”

To this day, we still go to my grandparent’s house every year. No more gifts from Santa sitting on the couch when we wake up, but other than that, the tradition is still the same. We wake up early, open presents, lounge around, and once it gets a little later in the day we go to my aunt’s house to exchange more gifts and eat Christmas dinner. We used to do a Secret Santa type thing on my granddad’s side of the family, but one year we just stopped participating haha. I was young so it’s not like I had to buy gifts, but it was nice to receive a few extra. Do you guys do Secret Santa for the holidays? Or have any kind of holiday traditions? Is it a chill in pjs all day type of day or are y’all dressing to the nines? I always make it a point to look nice because, well … I’m me. And that’s what I do . But if you’re bumming it out, that’s cool too. No judgement over here.

Outfit Deets

I’m a bit torn between wearing this green blazer or lavender duster with this dress. Since it’s Christmas, I still want to incorporate red or green into this look, but on the other hand, the duster matches beautifully with the floral print of the dress. I’ve also never worn the duster before, so that’s all the more reason to make that change today. I bought it a couple of years ago from Rue 21, and it was quite the steal; $5 from the clearance rack and it was the last one left! The blazer was also $5, but that’s expected when you shop at Goodwill. It’s a little more heavyweight than the duster, so I’ll assess the weather a little longer and let that be the deciding factor on whichever I choose. Before the forecast was even out for today, I knew that I wanted to pair these over the knee boots (Charlotte Russe) with the dress. One day I was just chilling in my room, doing nothing per usual, and I started thinking about new outfit ideas. As much as I love this dress, it’s been almost two years since I wore it, so I wanted to bust it out really soon. The first time, I kept it simple with a pair of nude heels, so this time around, being that it just hit winter, I’m able to layer it and bring out one of my favorite pairs of boots. The only thing I’d change about them is the silver detail on the heel. I like to keep my metals consistent throughout my outfits, so whenever I wear these, I have to wear silver jewelry. It’s not necessarily an issue, I’m just usually drawn to gold. It’s kind of weird, though, because when I look at engagement rings there are very few that I like that are yellow gold; I’m a huge fan of platinum and white gold, so I guess I’ll be getting used to mixing metals in the future.

If you’ve been following me since I first began my blog, you’ll recognize this dress (Bealls Outlet,) from one of my first posts. In order to get the best use of your wardrobe, it is essential to know how to mix and match and add and subtract different garments to make entirely new looks (or unless you have an abundance of clothing where you don’t have to … good for you if that’s the case) . I’m really funny when it comes to repeating outfits, so when it’s time to do so I like for there to be noticeable changes. It doesn’t take a lot of effort, because as you guys can see, all I did was change shoes and layer with a topper. Depending on the occasion, you can do a little more or a little less, but don’t make it harder than it has to be. A little has the potential to go a long way!

The last touch to this look are these ball drop earrings that I bought from Maurices. I went through a period of being obsessed with the style of them, so in addition to silver I have 5 or 6 other colors. I just think they’re super festive, no matter the color, and they’re very fitting for the holidays!

Fashionably Yours,

DG

Also, if you’re interested in seeing how I styled this dress the first time, check it out here! And if you want to know how I’ve previously styled this blazer, here ya go :) I did end up wearing it with the dress today, so be on the lookout for how I plan to style the duster next!