25 things that I wish for each of you this holiday season

In the chaotic mix of the holiday season, I often find that there are moments of almost startling serenity. Perhaps it's a matter of being in the eye of the storm, or maybe, as the classic Christmas carol, Silent Night, reminds us, all really is calm and bright.

It was in the midst of one of these wee pockets of tranquility recently that I was almost overwhelmed with the desire to send out Christmas cards to each and every one of my readers - especially after the staggering outpouring of love and assistance that you guys have bestowed on us after the fire.

Naturally, for a myriad of reasons, such isn't possible - however, I can convey the same kinds of festive sentiments here on my blog, which I hope you'll agree with me is quite similar to classic greeting cards themselves.

In particular, my mind is overflowing with thoughts of what I truly hope that life, the universe and all other forces at play in this vast world of ours - the spirit of Santa Claus very much included - will bring your way during this profoundly meaningful time of the year.

Some of the following 25 festive wishes - one each for the first 25 days of December - are deep and serious, whereas others are more lighthearted and just for fun.

So, my immensely dear friends, please accept this today's post as my holiday season greeting to each and every of you.

It comes wrapped in love and, I hope, really will ring true through the beautiful days that fill the very last chapter of another exciting year.

1. Tons of festive cheer!

2. That fond nostalgia fills your heart, while...

3. You also create amazing new memories this year

4. Quite time to savour and reflect on what this season really means to you personally

5. Peace in your heart, your family, and all areas of your life

6. Lots of opportunities to rock your favourite vintage/repro/rockabilly/pinup/or any other type of holiday attire (adorable Christmas themed novelty brooches very much included)

7. Serene walks taken in the crisp early winter air that remind you of the powerful, though sometimes not instantly obvious, beauty that this time of the year houses

8. The joy that comes with giving a gift or otherwise doing something that truly brightens someone's holiday and leaves a lasting impression on them for years to come

9. A new vintage treasure or two amongst your gifts

10. The ability to still enjoy at least some of the elements of the season with the same sort of wide-eyed wonder you had as a child

11. If you live in a part of the world where such is possible, that you're greeted to a white Christmas on the 25th

12. Zero (or, if that's not realistic, as little as possible) family drama during the holidays

13. May you have at least one - and hopefully many - reason(s) to smile every day

14. Fantastic company (friends, family, SO - you name it!) around you often

15. A powerful sense of contentment in your heart and more blessings than you could ever count

16. That your favourite Christmas songs are the ones you hear most frequently

17. A festive season that is sweeter than all the candy canes, sugar cookies, and hot cocoa on earth

18. Gorgeous holiday light displays all throughout your neighbourhood

19. Reminders of the good old days and what Christmastime meant for the generations that came before us

20. The ability to celebrate the season with your pets and/or other favourite animals in your life

21. Fests that fill your belly and warm your soul alike (with lots of yummy leftovers to enjoy for days afterward)

22. The very best health possible

23. Time to watch at least one or two of your favourite holiday TV shows and/or movies

24. The happiest festive season one could ever ask for!

25. An incredible new year ahead that helps you to grow, develop, blossom (as a person), and follow your bliss all the more

{To learn more about a specific image that was used in today's post, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

♥ ♥ ♥

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the unending gift of your readership, your support, your friendship, your encouragement, your care, your inspiration, and unquestionably your incredible help, generosity and kindness throughout 2016.

I treasure, value and appreciate such more than I could ever put into words and am sincerely looking forward to soon launching into 2017 - a brand new year to put the substantial troubles of this one all the more behind us - with each of you.

First though, we have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's to celebrate. This will be my last post of the year, but I'll be back in January with multiple new entries here throughout that month, as I begin to ease into blogging on a more regular basis once again (insomuch as the continued post-fire related demands and uncertainty - very much including our longer term housing needs - of our daily lives, as well as my health, will permit).

Wherever you are, however you celebrate this time of the year, and whatever you may be doing as we embrace the last leg of December, from both myself and Tony (as well as our darling Miss Annie), merriest wishes, dear friends!

May you your festivities sparkle and shine, and may all these of the things listed above - and countless more blessings - be yours this holiday season.

What I wore for Christmas Day (only, you know, two months after the fact :D)

Outfit details

C. 1930s/40s burgundy felt hat with netting: Garb-Oh Vintage
Garnet and gold toned earrings: Claire's (in late November, so they might still be in stock there)
1940s style burgundy winter coat: Thrifted (Jones New York brand)
1980s does 1940s Laura Ashley plaid dress: Lola Vintage
C. 1950s frosted clear Austrian glass berry brooch: eBay
C. 1950s white gloves: Unknown, had for ages (possibly a gift)
Gold tone bangle bracelets: Payless
C. 1950s/60s navy blue handbag: Frugal Frocks
Black seamed nude vintage style stockings: eBay
Navy blue faux patent leather pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Partyline



Photography by Tony Cangiano

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The sharing of said ensemble, not the wearing, that is. :)

If you're a regular follower of this blog, then I won't head into broken record territory too much, but chances are you know that I've been computer-less this month. While I was fortunate to have several blog posts penned and ready to go live throughout February prior to that happening, only a couple of them were outfit posts and as such, I kept pushing their post dates up further and further, as one week turned into the next and I was still sans laptop.

The new one is expected to arrive any day now (yippee!), so I thought I'd take the plunge and share these fun snaps from late December with all of you here today, before we head into March and my thoughts turn far more to loveiversary (the day that Tony I first meet back in 2004) and Easter season outfits, instead of what I was sporting while jolly old St. Nicolas was still in town. :)

This past Christmas was a marvelous one for myself and my family. On the one hand, it was a lowkey event (just the way I typically like holidays of all sorts to be), but on the other, it was delightfully unique - for us at least. The reason for such was that the year before(on Christmas Day 2014, to be exact), my mom had decided, so very sweetly, that she wanted to hold an Italian Christmas feast, instead of the more traditional North American/British style one, in honour of Tony and his homeland.

Thus we both set to work shopping, cooking and baking up a storm for the meal, which saw a handful of close relatives gather around the table - heady, scrumptious scents aplenty wafting up from it - on Christmas Eve and Day alike - and dig into an Italian feast that could easily have fed over twenty. What are the holidays though, without ample food and lots of great leftovers to tuck into for days to come!

It was a fun, delicious departure from our usual winter holiday eats and one that Tony, as well as the rest of us, all enjoyed and appreciated. While we won't be going the Italian meal route each Christmas, given what a smash hit this one was, I sense we will repeat it again periodically as the years roll on.

What was on our plates might have been Italian in nature, but we didn't take the theme quite to the level of national dress or Italian flag only hues (though they are literally the same palette as Christmas, so the latter wouldn't have been too tricky to do at all). I woke up on Christmas morn, fresh snow falling atop of the thick blanket that already lay on the ground around town and felt instantly pulled towards both plaid and the colour burgundy.

Enter, this thoroughly lovely 1980s does 1940s style Laura Ashley dress that I've had for absolutely ages. Though it looks the wool part, it is not, but it is nearly as warm as though it were. This dress is incredibly comfortable and rife with classic styling (from the puffed sleeves to the matching belt to the white collar), and as it hadn't appeared here on the blog before, Christmas seemed like the ideal time to debut

Ditto for this vintage appropriate reefer style burgundy coat from the brand Jones of New York, which I thrifted for less than $10 two or three winters ago from a tiny charity run thrift shop on Main Street right here in Penticton.

To these yesteryear inspired pieces, I added my endlessly beloved 1930s/40s burgundy felt hat, a vintage navy blue purse and (modern) shoes, white mid-century gloves, and a smattering of new and old jewelry (including one of my treasured c. 1950s Austrian glass fruit brooches).

It was a fun, festive, and very cozy outfit that suited the laid back, fun filled nature of Christmas Day spend at my mom and step-dad's house (where these snaps were captured on their deck) perfectly.

Looking back now, two months and a day later, it seems both like these photos were taken just yesterday and also as though they happened eons ago.

A lot has already transpired in the first couple of months of 2016. Some good, some heartbreaking, some exciting, some stressful, and lots that simply makes up the minutia of life. Through it all, the optimism that I felt about this year as we entered into it, has scarcely wavered and I remain hopeful that the positive will far outweigh the negative when all is said and done, and I pose for next Christmas' outfit shoot.

We've got nearly ten months to go before that point however, during which time I'll soon be enjoying my new laptop and continuing to bring you scores more "what I wore" (and other types of) posts to fill the pages of this blog throughout the year. I can hardly wait, especially with springtime (and all of its gorgeous vintage fashions) just around the corner!

 

Flickr Favourites: December 27, 2015

{Gala Midnite Show New Year's Eve ~ Tom Simpson}



{A Very Happy New Year Scottie ~ The Vintage Traveler}



{Pine cones and branch on toy sledge ~ Tatyana Titova}



{Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz ~ Lucy_Fan}



{Sweet Bouquet ~ Bunches and Bits}



{Tree Hat ~ James Vaughn}



{USSR New Year ~ Katya}


{1955 ... scandal in choir! ~ James Vaughn}



{Cadê meu presente de natal? ~ http://bit.ly/1NEdc7O}


{1946 Mona Freeman ~ Amy Jeanne}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on its title to be taken to its respective Flickr page.} 

♥ ♥ ♥

The year is truly winding down, but the festive celebrations are still going strong and as such I didn't want to delve into anything to hard and heavy - or labour intensive on either of our sides - here today.

There is always a certain sort of beautiful bitter sweetness to the end of the year. Whether one adored or abhorred the twelve months that just passed, there's no denying that saying goodbye to a given year is always at least a little bit tough.

These months, so bracingly recent in our minds were our friends, while they lasted, and they got us through to this very moment. Some were likely better than others, and probably had their own respective highs and lows, but when all was said and done, there was a greatness to the sum of their parts, no matter what.

For me 2015 was a year dominated by a great deal of introspective thought. A lot of thinking not only about how I would like my life to be right now, but also in the coming years and beyond, and by often feeling like I was being productive, but in some parts of my life, in a way that was akin to spinning my wheels, without moving forward as much as I would have ideally liked.

Not in all areas of course, and on the Etsy shop (where everything is currently 30% off until January 4th) front in particular, I'm thrilled with the growth that took place there, from inventory numbers to sales figures to the diversity of antique and vintage products I've been able to offer my customers.

It was a year of some unexpected points - both good (Tony's exciting work trip to the States for the summer) and bad (my maternal grandma's cancer diagnosis and subsequent surgery + treatment, for example), personal growth, and making certain firm decisions about how I want my blog, business, and life to hopefully continue to unfold. 

2015 wasn't the best year ever, but it certainly wasn't the worst ever either and, really, any time you can walk away from a given set of twelve months and say that, it's worth smiling extra big as the ball drops at midnight on January 1st.

That is exactly what I'll be doing come the big night next week. Blessing counted, my precious husband and pets by my side, and a really positive outlook on the coming year planted squarely in my mind as I do so.

Happiest New Year's wishes, everyone!

Merry Christmas Wishes, One and All!

On this endlessly marvelous and magical of mornings, with all our might Tony and I (and our pets, Stella and Annie, too!) want to wish you each a truly happy, fun filled, safe, fabulously festive holiday!

{Victorian Christmas greeting image source}

Without a doubt one of the most precious and important gifts in our daily lives is all of you and the support that you give to my blog, Etsy shop, YouTube channel, and other online presences.

Today, tomorrow, and every last day of the year, I hope that you know how much I sincerely cherish, appreciate, and am forever grateful for each and every one of you.
 
We'll be delighting in the joyfulness of the next few days with loved ones, while also continuing to bring you fun new posts throughout these final days of 2015, such as December's vintage blogger interview and my glamorous vintage New Year's Eve party outfit (which I can hardly wait to share with all of you!).
 
Merriest Christmas and happiest holiday season wishes from our hearts and home to you and yours!!!

What's been going on in my life this month and a VSS check-in

Yesterday marked exactly five months since my last birthday. It's staggering how quickly time flies, one month tumbling into the next, life a series of moments and emotions, smiles, highs, lows and memories. I'd hoped to get a new outfit post up this week, but there was no way that was going to happen as the days progressed.

This month has been - and will continue to be - staggeringly busy. The most jam packed, hectic one of 2015, topping even October, and while there will be outfit posts as the weeks progress, again, there was just no way for one to be squeezed in at present. Soon though, including a couple of stellar holiday season dresses that I can't wait to show you guys!

Since getting back from Vancouver last week, I've been crazy busy both vintage Vintage Secret Santa happenings, as well as packing up and shipping out a ton of wonderful Etsy shop orders that have been pouring in recently. I had some requests from blog readers for such to cover payday today, so I've extended the 25% off VSS coupon code there until tomorrow.

If you'd like to purchase anything for your VSS match, yourself, or someone else, you can take 25% off all orders when you use the coupon code VSS25 at checkout until December 12th.
 
Keeping pace with those happenings has been the holiday season itself, which as we all know, usually only gets busier and busier as the 25th draws nearer!

Also, before the end of the month, as a small business owner I need to file my Canadian PST and GST tax reports, which essentially means doing all of my 2015 taxes (in order to generate the precise numbers for each) this month, too. Not exactly what one wants to be dealing with for several days during Christmastime, but it must be done, so no sense in bemoaning it too much.
 
Further on top of those things - and very exciting - Tony and I recently decided that the time had come to get a new (be actually brand new or just slightly use) car. Our current one - which was actually our first car ever - was bought secondhand for a stellar deal back in early 2012 and has served us well for nearly four years now.

However, for a myriad of reasons, it's no longer the best fit for our current lifestyle (a big one being that we need a great deal more room than it provides, including for Annie, our energetic 65+ lbs dog, as well as for when we travel and for when I sell in person at vintage shows) and so this month we've been pouring our a lot of time, thought and energy into researching, test driving, and hunting for our next vehicle.

{The models – and prices! – might change, but the act of buying a car remains much the same as it did back when this photo was taken around the start of the 1950s. Vintage auto dealership image source.}

 
We haven't found "the one" yet, but we're getting closer and are both incredibly excited about this prospect. We've needed a bigger vehicle for ages and knowing that one will soon be ours is giving me some much needed pep to get through these crazy busy weeks!
 
Back, for a moment, to the VSS. For those taking part in this year's Vintage Secret Santa, 100% of the match emails were sent out to all participants by the (PST) morning hours of December 2nd. If you have not yet seen your email in your inbox (it should have been there about 1.5 weeks ago now), please check your spam (a lot of users who signed up with a Hotmail email are having their VSS messages land in their spam filters for some unknown reason - maybe Hotmail isn't in a festive mood this year ), deleted message, and archived message folders going back to November 30th.
 
If you don't see your VSS match email in any of those spots, please contact me by email right away and I get your match info out to you again. There's less than two weeks to go now until Christmas and if you signed up for the VSS, it's very important that you honour your commitment and mail out a gift to your match, who, just like yourself, is no doubt excited for, and expecting to receive, a festive gift as part of this fun online gift swap.
 
Definitely lots going on this month on our for sure, which is great! I've also been giving a lot of thought to the direction of my blog, my wardrobe, my social media accounts, and many other important aspects of my life and work as we head into 2016, so I've got oodles on my (vintage china) plate right now and am seriously excited to see how it will all play out in the coming year.
 
I hope that you're each having a terrific December and that, hopefully, yours is at least a bit less harried than mine!
 
Have an awesome weekend and countdown to Christmas, my dears!!!

15 Timelessly Wonderful Vintage Christmas Dessert Recipes

Halloween wins out as my favourite holiday ever, as many of you know, and as much as I adore cooking and baking for it, there's no other seasonal event that I create quite as much food for, nor love cooking/baking in celebration of, quite like Christmas.

I think that stems in part from the fact that while Halloween is just one day. Yes, I start celebrating well in advance, but it doesn't usually call for the same degree of feasting or the endless trays of baked goods that early December  straight on until the first new days of January does.




{As soon as the calendar flips over the twelfth month of the year, you'll find me - like jolly old St. Nick here - in the kitchen, apron on, oven fired up, and mountains of scrumptious holiday fare being churned out more days than not (and I wouldn't have it any other way!). Charming mid-century vintage Santa Claus illustration source}


Christmas food is nostalgic. It calls to mind our earliest days, (often) relatives that sadly are no longer with us, and good times that we may very well have memorialized in our memories. It is the first distinct bite of fruitcake, the luxuriously rich feeling of eggnog on your tongue. Christmas tastes like cranberries, all-spice, roast turkey, chocolate fudge, mincemeat, pumpkin pie and countless other flavours each so common to the human experience and yet individual to each of us an our own culinary lives.

Throughout the duration of each year, I delight in finding vintage recipe posts with a festive flare to them, which I tuck away for safekeeping until December rolls around. Most of these recipes are wonderful classics that many of know and love dearly, but a few are more - how shall we say - whimsical mid-century offerings that might be new to your Christmas dessert repertoire. Whatever the case, they all share in common certain tastes, scents, and even textures that we automatically associate with the holiday season and that are bound to make both you and all who gather around your seasonal table pleased as punch about what you've set down before them.

Today, with precisely two weeks to go until Christmas Day and festive food making really starting to hits its stride for many of us, I wanted to take this opportunity to share fifteen of the most delightful, timeless, family pleasing vintage holiday recipes that I've encountered online this year. Whether they're old favourites or new-to-you treats, I hope that any and all of them that you should happen to try out prove to be firm favourites that only add to the many terrific Christmas food recipes you already cherish.



The mid-1940s delivers this classic recipe for Grandma'a Molasses Cookies, which is low on sugar but big on old-fashioned gingerbread taste and seasonal appeal!




This mid-century recipe for Walnut Fruit Ring not only looks elegantly pretty (wouldn't it make for a marvelous Christmas Eve or Christmas Day breakfast treat?), but sounds thoroughly delicious as well. If walnuts aren't your favourite, you could easily substitute them with another nut that holds up well to baking, such as pecans, almonds, or macadamias.




Orange and almond extras add seasonal flavour and a sublime aroma to this wonderful looking Merrie Companie Cake from 1960, which you could further jazz up with candied peal or citrus slices inside or as a decorative finishing touch on the outside (in lieu of the fruit and nuts that are suggested). A dark chocolate icing or ganache (instead of the fluffy egg white icing) would also pair excellently with the flavours at work here.




Don't let the potential hurdles of making candy from scratch at home put you off, especially when there are so many dead simple recipes out there that involve little to "staging" of sugar, such as this classic Chocolate Marshmallow Creme Fudge, which spends a few minutes on the stovetop and that's it in terms of the cooking involved. Fudge is one of my favourite treats to make - and to give as a gift - at Christmas time, and I love whipping varieties such as rocky road, cherry nut, maple pecan, creamsicle, and classic chocolate versions such as this great fifties offering alike.




If dark fruitcake finds favour with you and your family, then why not step several decades back into the past and make this classic, tasty sounding vintage fruitcake recipe offering from 1927.




This recipe from 1949 for Peppermint Tapioca Cream is just the thing after a rich, heavy main meal, when you still want dessert, but nothing too substantial. If tapioca isn't your cup of tea, you could easily make as a rice, quinoa, or even oat based treat instead.




I don't know about you, but this lovely early fifties recipe for Peppermint-Stick Cake sounds December on a fork to me! It marries the always awesome combination of peppermint and chocolate together for a fun, crowd pleasing dessert that would be fabulous in cupcake form as well.




Need something sweet, fun, and apt to please everyone in your family from the ages of three to 103? Whip up a batch of these charming Chocolate Krackolates (and do feel free to rename them to something that rolls off the tongue a little better, if so desired). They're quick, delicious, and fairly easy on the wallet, too boot - something we can all use during the expense filled holiday season!




No other time of the year suits, or calls for, raisins better than Christmas season, if you ask me, and as I'm a huge fan of these sweet, zingy little dried fruits, I always stock up well in advance and use them in all manner of sweet and savoury dishes alike throughout December. This fun California Raisins recipe ad from 1962 provides ideas for two festive ways to use of some of those that you might have kicking around - the raisin bars in particular are calling my name!




A well known breakfast cereal (Weetabix) is the unexpected star in this creative early fifties take on the centuries old beloved classic that is Christmas Plum Pudding.




Three vintage molasses recipes - each splendidly well suited to the holiday season - call this lovely Brer Rabbit ad from 1950 home. I'm really intrigued by the the brownies and look forward to giving them a spin!

If jelly candies are a hit at your house, why not try making this 1940s recipe for Holiday Danties? Knox gelatin helps speed the process along in the kitchen, and the festive colours and flavours are bound to impress your friends and family alike when you bring them to the table!

{To learn more about a specific vintage recipe above, please click on it, or the name of the recipe I the description below it, to be taken to its respective page.}

♥ ♥ ♥

Yum, yum, merry yum! :) All of these recipes appeal to me and though I would have to modify most of them for my own medical dietary needs, that never stops me in the slightest! There are workarounds for so many different special diets these days (thankfully), so it's well worth at least experimenting - even if it means deviating a fair bit from the original recipe - to try and still enjoy as many of your seasonal favourites as possible.

Speaking of which, if you're looking for more thoroughly fun vintage holiday season dishes and sweet treats, be sure to check out my vintage recipes page, where you'll find all of the others that I've shared here over the years. Between today’s selection of fifteen desserts and those from years past, there's bound to be at least one or two awesome old school Christmas recipes that call your name and send you rushing to see how much cinnamon, candied fruit, molasses, or cocoa powder you still have in the pantry!

Enjoy this marvelous time of the year and all the food, be it homemade, store bought, or created by others in your life, that it delivers. Before we know it, Christmastime will be over for another year and our meals will go back to their wintertime norm.

Feast now, bake often, treat those you love to your scrumptious seasonal eats, and don't shy away from vintage holiday recipes - after all, they've been the backbone of many of our holiday meals and memories alike for generations now and that alone is well worth baking a fruitcake or two in celebration of! :)