My family celebrated Christmas this past week, and I had such a good time laughing, sharing stories, and playing games. When I was younger, Christmas Eve included Christmas Mass and sometimes participation in the children’s play, dinner out with the family, and sometimes having my grandmother come home with us and opening her gifts to us (she always gave the best gifts). We did the traditional Santa clause preparation with milk and cookies, a carrot for Rudolph, and then ended the night giggling with my siblings as we tried hard to fall asleep. Fast forward to now, and a lot has changed. My family isn’t religious like we used to be, and there are no children around that believe in Santa. My grandmother is no longer with us, and there’s no gift opening on Christmas Eve. I think for a long time I grieved the end of my childhood and tried really hard to recreate those traditions even though my family had changed. This year felt very different for me. I wasn’t trying to capture the past stuff we did, and instead my family just had a lot of fun doing what we love to do now. On Christmas Eve I watched about an hour of home movies from when I was around one, but the nostalgia stopped there. Later, I went out with my parents, two of my siblings, and one of my brother-in-laws for sushi, then we came home and played the game Things, which was so, so funny. I had one of those moments where you are laughing so hard that you cut off your breath and snort all at the same time. Let’s just say it’s been a long time since I was able to relax and laugh that deeply, so it felt amazing.

Even though we no longer do anything fancy, I always like to dress up because I honestly don’t need much of an excuse to do it :). I tend to be overdressed compared to everyone else around me, but that’s okay. I had bought this red dress on a whim from DressBarn about a month or so ago, and kept it for Christmas Eve. I didn’t get to wear it as I had envisioned it (couldn’t find my gold belt), but I worked with what I had, and I still love the cut of the dress. So here’s my look, simple but fun, just like my Christmas Eve.

This dress is so soft and comfortable. It is fitted close up top, but flares out after the waist. The lace has a circular pattern, which you can see in the top portion, but because of the pleating the lower portion gives the shape a cool effect. I was definitely surprised, because DressBarn (the name of the store is horrible) can sometimes have not-so-great quality pieces, but this dress was really nice.

DressBarn dress, Urban Outfitters heels

Do you experience nostalgia during the holidays? What kind of new or old traditions have you begun or held onto?