A special holiday calls for a special vintage dress

Outfit details

White hair flower: Arden
Prescription eyeglasses: (frames) Venus Eye Design V-12
Semi-precious stone and Czech glass bead butterfly cameo necklace: Handmade by me
Grey shrug: Fairweather
1950s dusty peach lace dress: etsy seller The Church of Vintage
1940s/50s grey rouched gloves: eBay
Pink plastic beaded stretch bracelets: Forever 21
Faux pearl stretch bracelet: Real Canadian Superstore
Brown faux alligator purse: Le Chateau
Nude seamed stockings: eBay
Dark brown faux alligator heels: Pipsqueaks and Damsels Consignment Store 
Lip colour: MAC Diva   

Photography by Antonio Cangiano

♥ ♥ ♥

Last month, here in the wild of Canada (as I lovingly like to refer to just about everywhere that isn't a major city), the country celebrated Thanksgiving. Our canuck take on the event is extremely similar to that of our US neighbours and involves oodles of delicious eats, family get-togethers, pumpkin filled decor, and time spent reflecting on the blessings in our lives.

This particular Thanksgiving was immensely important to me because it was the first time that Tony and I had been able to spend it with my some of my relatives (as, prior to this, we'd been living thousands of miles apart). The small group that gathered that evening at my parents house to share a meal that my mom and I each prepared dishes for (I brought the gluten-free stuffing and dessert, plus the black olives and gherkins - both "musts" for me at any Thanksgiving spread), consisted of Tony and I, my mom and step-dad, and my sister (plus, her ultra cute dog, Beau, who you may recall from this post last summer).

Though our numbers were small, the festive spirit we all shared that night was huge and there wasn't anything lacking, be it a second helping of spuds and gravy or a warm smile from whomever was sitting across from you at the table (which you can see in the photo below - decorated by my wonderful mom).





I've always loved dressing up for the holidays and knew that I wanted to wear something extra special for this joyous celebration. I gave my choice a lot of thought, but even on the day itself, I still wasn't sure and tried on about six other dresses in my closet before settling on this beloved vintage dusty peach lace frock. The colour seemed so well suited to the palette of fall, the waist  on it isn't very tight at all (so I knew there's be no risk of feeling uncomfortable after a big meal), and the aged lace seemed to speak for the timeless beauty of Thanksgiving itself.

Though I adore lace madly, it really struck me that particular day how very little of it I have in my closet at the moment, which makes this dress all the more important to me. I wanted the emphasis of the outfit to be on the frock itself, but as it wasn't an overly warm day, vintage ruched gloves, a much loved grey shrug, and a necklace that I made earlier this year helped round out the ensemble.

My enthusiasm for donning fancier threads come holiday time is shared by Tony as well, who looked mighty sharp in his dark grey blazer, black shirt, and handsome grey and black stripped tie (my sis snapped the photo here of me and Tony with Tony's camera). I loved that though we didn't set out to match our outfits, the grey in both helped them to coordinate so nicely.

I can honestly say that this was one of the most serenely relaxing, wonderful Thanksgivings I've ever celebrated, and it's a day that will standout as one of the nicest of the whole year for me.

I hope that as my lovely readers in the States gear up for your own celebration later this week, you each have an equally marvelous Thanksgiving, and that life always gives you more blessings and reasons to be thankful than you can possibly count.