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.

A Very Retro Christmas. With visions of shrimp trees and jello moulds, I invite you to enter the fanciful world of food art that was the 1970s. With eclectic color, endless dips and quirky skewers sculptures you are in for a Christmas red and crystal platter fever dream. Hold on to your reindeer!

I love turning something as simple as homemade pasta into a fabulous little festive season tradition for myself. Uncomplicated perfection… Proof that even the simplest of things can have the biggest, most special influence.

An afternoon tea. A simple and charming way to celebrate with loved ones for the holidays. Without the fuss of a formal table or extensive menu, this take on a Christmas celebration is the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of it all.

The art of staying in.

‘Tis the season of hosting and merriment and sweet sugar plum memories.