Christmas 2016

Silver & Blue Belle

I found one more way to style my blue ice harlequin circle skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing!

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I went for a silver, blue, and white look. I even dug out my silver heels for the occasion…although, to be honest, they’re not the most practical footwear at this time of year. They look great, though!

I still can’t get over how perfectly this Erstwilder brooch goes with the skirt…I don’t think I’ll ever wear a different brooch with it!

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I really love this skirt. Obviously, I’m thinking Christmas now, but in a month, I’ll be wearing it and thinking winter! I’m so happy I won’t have to pack it away until next year after the 12 days of Christmas are over!

Gingerbread Walk 2016

One of our favorite Downtown Belleville Christmas events is the Gingerbread Walk. I am always amazed by how creative people can be with food!

Of course, anything British is going to be a personal favorite:

There were several others that we thought were particularly special:

And when you see the purple “Best of Show” ribbon, you know you’re going to be looking at something special!

Every year, I say that next year, we should enter something, anything, in the contest…maybe 2017 will be that year!

Italian Christmas

I’ve already shared a few outfits that paired bold, bright reds and greens. This time, I’m going for a slightly more subdued, yet still Christmas-colored, look that includes one of my favorite Jenny skirts…the Italian landscape print.

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They may be different shades of green, but I still love the way my Christmas tree brooch looks on this top!

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Sometimes I’m still shocked by how much I love this particular top from Pinup Girl Clothing, because I had never worn this color before, and I wouldn’t have thought it would look good on me. As it turns out, it’s a flattering shade of green for my skin tone, and I’m glad it goes with so many of my skirts!

2016 Wreath Auction

This is the second year that we’ve admired all of the wreaths available in the silent auction at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and I continue to be impressed with how creative and talented the people who made them are!

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It would be impossible to pick a favorite, but I have to admit that the Peter Rabbit one, as well as the one in the frame, are especially well done!

Ice Queen

I’ve already shared how this beautiful blue ice harlequin skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing looks paired with a blue top, but I thought I’d go full on Ice Queen with a white peasant top and bolero. I think I like this look even more, and my Erstwilder snowflake brooch is still a perfect match!

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Chickadee thinks I look like Elsa from Frozen in this outfit, which is about the highest compliment she could pay anyone, so I’d say it’s a huge success!

Gardenland Express

This is only the second year we visited the Gardenland Express Holiday Flower and Train Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was pretty sure the theme would be different (it was), but how about the displays themselves? Would they be the same? (They weren’t.)

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This year’s theme is “Home for the Holidays,” and focuses on four plant families from around the world, which include popular holiday plants. It was fun to see familiar buildings and flowers from last year arranged in new ways…it was like visiting an entirely new town!

Candy Cane Style

I am all in on candy cane stripes and elf style today, and I’m not even sorry! Like the red and green outfit I shared last week, this is another Pinup Girl Clothing look that I have refrained from wearing until now, even though I love Mary Blair transportation prints with stripes, because the colors are so Christmas-y This is the one time of year I know I can get away with this look, though. And my favorite Christmas brooch also goes perfectly with the outfit!

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The print on the skirt may not have a Christmas theme, but the overall look is very festive, don’t you think?

Christmas Traditions 2016

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the Christmas season…the day where we drive out to St. Charles, MO, for the Christmas Traditions festival!

We started, as we do every year, with lunch. We haven’t eaten at Frankie Tocco’s since before Chickadee was born, so I figured we should go back there so she could experience that part of our family tradition. St. Louis style pizza isn’t my favorite, but Frankie Tocco’s makes it as good as it gets.

We then went through the Gingerbread Village…I really wish I could enter one of those contests someday!

For the last few years, we’ve seen most of the parade…this year, we saw the whole thing! I love seeing all of the different characters in costume, walking down the brick street, passing by all the gorgeous old buildings that are so much a part of St. Charles’ identity.

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And seeing the flags of the world carried by the different Santas is always fun:

We joined the end of the parade and went down to Frontier Park, where we enjoyed a good-natured red vs. green game show, led by La Befana and Babushka:

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After the parade and the character hoopla, we got down to work meeting characters and collecting cards. The children had their pictures taken with all our old favorites…the Frontier Santa, who looks like he stepped out of the pages of Little House on the Prairie, Santa Lucia, the Christmas Angel, and Bunny’s favorite, Jack Frost. He even let her hold his “BLUEkulele!”

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For the first time ever, I had my picture taken with a few characters, too. The Master of Revels has been my favorite since the first time Ryan and I sat down and watched him harass festival-goers over a decade ago(!!!), and like Bunny, I’m also a fan of Jack Frost, and his pal Susie Snowflake (the one character I will take credit for introducing to Christmas Traditions several years ago). I even had the right outfit to take a picture with the frosty duo!

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We managed to find 32 out of 48 characters, which is a lot, but not our best year by any stretch of the imagination. I may die of shock if we ever have a year where we collect every single card!

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I love walking up and down Main Street and seeing all the buildings and decorations!

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And I really love taking a picture of the children by the gazebo…I think this is one of the best photos yet!

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I’m a little sad that it isn’t even December yet, and our family’s favorite Christmas tradition has already come and gone, but we had an amazing afternoon in St. Charles, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival!

Blue and White

I have wanted a harlequin print skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing for a long time. But it had to be the right colors…I didn’t want to buy one just for the sake of buying it. And I had assumed that when I finally found the right one, it would be a Jenny skirt, which is my favorite Pinup Girl style. But when I saw this blue ice circle skirt, I knew that it was the one I needed, so I got my Christmas gift from Ryan a little bit early this year!

This Erstwilder snowflake brooch is a perfect match for the skirt, too!

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The color scheme on this skirt is great…it will last all winter, and let’s face it, probably even beyond. And the twirl factor is amazing, so of course, I’m in love!