a very merry Christmas

//dress: forever21 / faux fur stole: cotton on / tights: fred meyer / shoes: charlotte russe / earrings: my grandma's / hair pins: DIY / lipstick: forever21//

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was hectic, but quite lovely all the same. Josh and I were both part of the choir for the Christmas Eve service at church, which was followed by the traditional family party at my aunt and uncle's...I always forget how large my family is until we're all crowded into one house with excited children running all over the place. I got up early Christmas morning to help Josh cook breakfast for his parents, after which we spent a nice, quiet morning together before church. After church, we headed to my house to exchange gifts (Josh has learned that the way to my heart is through Doctor Who...he's a keeper, guys), then back over to Josh's parents' for our first Christmas dinner with his family, before winding up the day at my family's huge Christmas party. We played a ridiculous game of Scrabble with my uncle, as per tradition, where the winning word was "Clackenwaggle"...because it just sounded right. It was a lovely Christmas, despite it being long and exhausting...I felt so incredibly blessed and grateful to be surrounded by all the people I love best, and to be able to add a whole new family to the mix, most of whole I've known all my life, but have become much closer to over the past year. 

I picked up this dress at Forever21 after searching high and low through the mall for the "right" dress (Josh was very patient with me and my indecisiveness). I was looking specfically for a velvet dress and I ended up asking one of the girls who was working there if she knew where any were. She was so absolutely sweet and took me throughout the store pulling out a variety of velvet dresses that she thought would suit my style, and colors that would suit my skin tone. I was so impressed and grateful that she went out of her way to help me find the perfect dress, and Forever21 will for sure continue to be one of my favorite places to shop. 

Anyway, as you can see, I went for a look inspired by the glamorous styles of the 1920s. I curled my hair and styled it in a faux bob, and went for fairly minimal makeup except for the red lip. I decided to style the dress a bit more simply, with black tights and my crazy black heels, and having the statement piece be my cozy fur stole (which my little cousin thought was a cat!). I'm quite happy with how it turned out...I did indeed feel quite glamorous! :)

How was your Christmas?