If you could wear a Christmas card, this festive outfit is what it might look like

Outfit details
Red felt beret: eBay
Gold tone heart earrings: Claire’s (purchased last month, so they could very well still be in stock)
Vintage style Winter Collection beaded brooch: Luxulite
Green thin knit shrug: Consignment store
1940s style Fleur wrap dress: Heyday
Red plastic bangle bracelet: Forever 21
Gold and dark green vintage bangles: Thrifted
Mid-century vintage red purse: I Love Vintage Stuff
Black seamed nude stockings: eBay
Red patent pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Nail colour: Sally Hansen Golden-I


Photography by Tony Cangiano

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Despite - or perhaps, the argument could be made, in part even because of - the fact that this has been, and will continue to be, the busiest month of the year of me, I'm teeming with an abundance of holiday spirit this year.

Honestly, I think it would be very, very hard to organize and host the annual Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange here and not be flush with feeling of comfort and joy. Beyond that wonderfully fun element of this season though, there are the 12 Things That Make Me Disproportionately Happy About Christmas, as well as many other reasons that a lofty sized smile remains on my face throughout the month.

Unquestionably, one of those points has always been the chance to deck myself - much like those well known halls - out in holiday finery. From about mid-November (yes, really, that early) to the first week of January, a huge number of my outfits are focused squarely on Christmas and (later on) New Year's, and this is has long come to be one of my favourite elements of the season.

I love shopping for vintage, repro, and vintage appropriate festive winter garb and aim to add new pieces of such to my closet, as I find them, all through the year. Some of my most recent, as those who follow me on Instagram (see this photo) might know, are three super wintery themed brooches from the awesome UK vintage style jewelry brand Luxulite (I also picked up a perfectly summer appropriate brooch from them that will be ideal for the annual Peach Fest that our town holds each summer).

I already had four Luxulite pieces, each of which I adore, and knew that some of their holiday offerings would be an ideal fit for my cold weather wardrobe. I'm sporting one of them in the photos above today and am sure the others will appear here in good time, too (if not this year, than during future holiday seasons). I love the substantial-ness of this brooch, its merry holly leaf and berry theme, and how joyful a piece of jewelry it is.

Keeping the merriness going, I finally got a chance to share my awesome Heyday holiday themed Fleur dress with you guys! I bought it during their after Christmas sale in 2013 and wore it often last year, as well as a couple of times this year (before we had a day where the weather was nice enough to take photos in - the others had been super rainy), but it has eluded being captured on camera until now.

I love this dress. Like, really, really, really love it. I own another Fleur as well (it's a floral print, so it suits spring and summer best), and both are major favourites in my wardrobe.

Like all of Heyday's offerings that I've bought over the years, they're comfortable, well made, and imbued with an excellent sense of vintage style and charm. Honestly, I love this darling Christmas ornament print dress so much, I'm half tempted to wear it even when it isn't Christmas!

Looking at these snaps, the title of today's post sprung to mind, because I really do feel like this outfit is a wearable version of the kind of seasonal loveliness that Christmas greeting cards often abound with. This ensemble is completely fun, which, ideally, is how a good chunk of this time of the year should be for all of us.

Busy though I am, and even though we had a hit of sudden stress this past weekend when our sweet dog Annie ran into some gastrointestinal problems that needed medical vet care (she's doing a lot better now, I'm very happy to report), my Christmas spirits really are high this year and I am eagerly look forward to bringing you guys at least a couple more festive ensembles before the last of the holiday decor comes down in January. :)


*PS* Another thing that has really been fueling my happiness levels this week is the fact that this past Sunday, my Etsy shop - where everything is currently on sale for 30% off until January 4th - hit a major milestone: 1,000+ items sold. To say that I was ecstatic about that fact would be a major understatement!