Christmas for me is firmly built on nostalgia and traditions. Festive season tends to look roughly the same each year. My space, illuminated with decor and elements that have continuously brought me joy through the years, a collection of bits and pieces that seemingly breathe a sense of familiar comfort and dependability to my Christmassy scene. To repeat and recycle is to create my own little world of tradition that helps to bring to life the festive season… Without a conventional family of my own with which to build the holiday, I have come to rely on decorations and intentional moments of celebration to design a world that feels truly special for myself (and my cats). Each year, an evergreen garland draped over the doorway to my breakfast nook, the same die-cut strand of Christmas cake carrying kittens strung on the bookshelves, an ever-growing eclectic collection of vintage and modern glass blown ornaments that when placed together feel as though they perfectly spell out the story of me – a Marie Antoinette cat, always front and center, kept company by a smattering of vintage Santas, baked potatoes, leopards, caviar and deviled eggs. This is my carefully designed and collected Christmas. Colorful and electric with just the right amount of vintage and homemade. This version of Christmas, in essence, is me. 

Swiss miss hot chocolate mix. Anyone who grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s knows the unmistakable smell, taste and texture. Yes, it was hot chocolate… in a nostalgic concept of hot chocolate kind of way. But in reality, I think it was simply a wintertime right of passage wrapped in silver lined packets and always somehow just barely more than warm. Served at the Christmas tree farm, bubbling out from the giant electric silver catering carafe inside the old hay barn, it became tradition, it was comfort. And if you added enough marshmallows it could almost be decadent. It is because of these little memories, these sugary infused moments, that my love for even subpar hot chocolate began.

There is a certain type of romance that is so perfectly synonymous with wintertime. The way that the sunrise dances across a foggy morning, the slumbering garden kissed with frost and glittering under the ice blue light. How dusk brings with it a hazy mist, blanketing the evenings as we drift from violet to azure and finally into a rich navy scene. These are the nights that are built for crackling fires and dinner parties boasting decadent menus and moments that illuminate one’s soul and warms from within. A time for gathering and feasting and relishing in the slower, more intentional moments that winter seems to demand. I have fallen in love with the beauty of the season time and time again. Being swept off my feet by cozy nights that follow rosy cheeked adventures, where a mug of hot cocoa piled high with whipped cream is the only way to properly defrost and crackling fires seem to suspend time with each pop and snap of the flames – Pockets of magic that are designed to melt the chill away, inviting moments of reflection, love and togetherness. 

Chic little snacks designed to make your holiday hosting both fun and festive. With these holiday treats, your soirée will absolutely be the talk of the town.

I love a blustery autumnal day. One that leaves you craving a hot cup of perfectly spiced apple cider, a good book and crackling fire. Those are the types of evenings that I melt into with ease, happily hibernating in a dimly lit sweater cocoon – All snug within an intentional, richly toned aesthetic life until the first thaw of spring. This is the feeling that I want to emulate for my dinner parties this time of year. The sense that, as a guest, you are wrapped up in a blanket of cozy comfort foods and stunning seasonal tablescapes, warming the wind kissed nights with bits of conversation and dishes that nourish and ignite your heart and soul. Simply put, I want my life to have an internal glow this time of year. Like a fire that pops and crackles to life with every thoughtful recipe and little moment that I create for myself and loved ones. This, to me, is the enchantment of autumn, the comforts and charms of this magnificent season. 

It is that time of year again. A time when we settle into moody, dusk blanketed evenings and nights that are richly painted with tones of amber, chocolate and chilly blues. A time when indoor comforts become a haven and food is not simply about sustenance, but rather a stage for merry moments of connection and enrichment meant to be shared. For me, this is what Thanksgiving and festive feasting is all about – Reaching into the darker, seemingly hollow nights and pulling from the shadows, something full of warmth, decadence and comfort. 

I have long been in love with autumn. A most elegant season, all dressed up in chocolaty jewel tones and perfumed with the scent of damp earth, decaying leaves and wood burning fires… It is no wonder that, once again, October has completely captivated my attention. With its effortless beauty and the forever shifting scenes of golden light and transforming foliage, I find myself melting into fall’s misty mornings and wind whistling nights. Tempted into candlelit, novel reading hibernation by steaming cups of tea and bowls of homemade soups, falling in love with longer shadows and the song of the rustling leaves that lull us into this cozy state. A period of rest, a time to recharge. It is a season of cozy charm and of chic richness. It is a time of year that simply feels like coming home.

As the velvety richness of October creeps in, I am once again, enamored by the romance of the season. Enchanted by the golden light and memorized by trees ablaze with amber leaves, the air spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and the damp of a withering and exhausted garden. To me, this is the beauty of Halloween. Haunted, misty forests, lingering roses slumped and blackened by an early frost and shadows of bare branches playing tricks in the night as they dance in the moonlight. For me, this is the frightful fascination of the season – Elements collected and gathered from a once vibrant garden, bent and shrivened to an unrecognizable state and tales of vintage ghost stories with spine shivering morals. Building from beauty something that is captivating and yet, not quite right. This is how one can play chic against eerie… This is my version of Halloween.