Merry Christmas from the Gummermans! We are up in Pittsburgh with my family this morning and later today we are going to open the envelope from our sonogram and find out if that baby that’s been kicking me is a boy or girl—AGGGHHHHHIMSOEXCITED!!!!!
Wishing you and your family love and peace that extends far into 2017. Merry Christmas!!
Only a few more days until Christmas! I just wanted to share a few shots with you from our Christmas decorating night earlier this month and show you what our holiday home has looked like lately. Putting up the tree with Sinatra singing and hot chocolate in hand is always one of my favorite nights of the year and hanging pretty ornaments under soft Christmas light is so cathartic for some magical reason.
I love the 60’s Corvette Stingray light-up sign that I made for the mantel this year—it turned out just how I pictured it in my head! I still use a lot of the holiday DIYs that I’ve made in past years too like my gold leather stockings, kitty paw stockings, and diamond ornaments so it’s like bringing out old friends to mix in with some new goodies.
The peppermint schnapps is just for Todd, so don’t freak out ok!! I got extra whipped cream though…
Belly shot! 
Finally found a cool manger scene that matches my decor—it’s harder to find than you’d think! I went to Israel for almost a month to complete my Master of Theology back in 2011 and while it’s amusing to point out all the theological inaccuracies in classic American Christmas manger scenes (well, amusing to Theology nerds that is), the memories of seeing first century Jewish homes are always fresh in my mind as I picture the first Christmas night.
We have Todd’s ornaments from when he was a kid but I usually hang them on the fridge or display them somewhere else since they don’t match the tree scheme. Feels a little exclusive but my Mom is the sweetest lady on earth and she did (and still does) the same thing to us with our ornaments! All the ones made of popsicle sticks had a different holiday home for the season…
We usually get a fun holiday ornament at our A Beautiful Mess Christmas party each year and this time I got a pink drill and Todd received a monkey playing video games—both perfect choices! Christmas decor is such a bright spot for me in the middle of winter. Can I leave all this up until summer? PLEASE??
xo. Laura
Hot chocolate. Christmas music. Twinkle lights. What’s not to love? I don’t usually decorate for Christmas before December 1st, but blogger Christmas comes earlier every year so now I have to bring out the decorations a week or so before Thanksgiving and get the party started a little sooner than I normally would. Todd feels a bit Grinchy about Christmas cheer too early, but I put him in charge of the hot chocolate so I think that helped to lift the spirits a bit…
Of course the kitties were on hand to help. And by “help” I mostly mean gnaw on the tree a bit and bat at ornaments.
Two years ago I bought a white pre-lit Christmas tree, and even though I grew up with live trees, I really do love how the white looks in our space (and all the lights are evenly spaced every time—a perfectionist’s dream!).
Mac has this thing with burrowing under rugs…what a weirdo.
Every Pittsburgh girl dreams of a pierogie ornament, am I right?? Todd got this for me from one of those Sky Mall catalogs. I think most people buy them as jokes, but I think it’s SO GOOD!
This diamond ornament was one of the first DIY projects I did as a full time author on ABM two years ago. I pack them really carefully each year because they are one of my favorite ornaments.
Last year was the first time we used a tree skirt and as soon as I laid it down, the cats made it their new nap spot. Looks like this year is no different!
Well, that’s one big decoration down but I still have a few more things I’m planning on making to add to the festive cheer. Are you doing any holiday DIY projects that you are excited about??
xo. Laura
Just wanted to share a few pics from my Christmas trip home. My mom is a real life Martha Stewart so everything she does for the holidays is so thoughtful and cute. We always dress up and do a Christmas Eve dinner with some traditional favorites (fried shrimp and a potato dish we call “potato puff”), drink wine, listen to music, and just catch up on our family togetherness time. My sister Rachel and her husband Jon can only get up to PA every third Christmas due to work schedules, so having them around the whole week made it an extra special year.
Don’t you love those Hobbit feet slippers? My brother Joel and his girlfriend Sarah gave those to him and he even wore them to the Hobbit movie the next day. The weirdest thing is that nobody in the theater noticed he was wearing them…so odd. For the last few years we’ve had my brother’s girlfriend Sarah and her sister Annie come by for all the Christmas Eve and Christmas morning activities. They are totally a part of the family now and I don’t think they mind it a bit (except maybe when we make them wear plaid shirts and take a picture).
We also took my (almost) 90 year old Grandma bowling and I think Todd is the only one that could beat her! She recently got the ladies high score of the week where she usual bowls (189!). All in all, I’m so thankful every time I get to be with my family. They are a precious bunch of people and my only Christmas wish is that I could get to see them more. Gummergal out!
I have this weird love affair with dressing up. I’ve been known to scour the discount clothing store racks looking for the $300 evening gowns that have been marked down to $25 because of a stuck zipper or small stain. When others see pretty dresses and think, “It’s lovely, but I have no event to wear it to,” I think, “It’s lovely and I’ll make me a damn event to wear it to.” I even instituted an annual (and fancy) Summer Date Night just so I could make sure any floor length chiffon dresses I came across were given a night on the town. Anyways, my mind starts with a special dress and then makes the plans to fit the outfit. Backwards? Maybe, but it makes getting dressed so much more fun.
I apply the same rules when it comes to holiday attire and I start looking for Christmas/New Years Eve party dresses a few months before the events. For me, holiday dresses mean two things whenever possible; loads of sequins and very tall heels. This year, to find my holiday dress I teamed up again with Lulu’s, and because of the insane amount of party dresses they have in stock, it was really easy to find the perfect match for me. There were so many adorable ones to choose from (like this, this, and this one), but the shimmer of black and white sequins won out. There are few things in life I love more than a full sequin dress—it just puts you in immediate party mode—and even if the heels get kicked off by the end of the night, at least they looked great for the first half.
Dress, Shoes, and Clutch c/o Lulu’s
I told you how I’ve been getting more into red this year so I thought I’d add some into my holiday attire with the bright red heels and lipstick. It’s still a slow trickle of rosy items, but it’s been a fun change-up from my usual picks. Are you still in need of a holiday dress? Well, check back because we will have a giveaway soon that could change your luck!
xo. Laura
