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!
Tag Archives: Holiday
Dress For The Holiday You Want (Not The Holiday You Have)
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
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…
The Christmas songs are playing, the decorations are up, LET CHRISTMAS BEGIN! Todd is a bit of a Grinch when it comes to timing of anything Christmas related. The day after Thanksgiving is the minimum date that has to pass before he will agree to anything that has to do with December 25th. I mostly agree with him, but he takes his stance pretty seriously. This year I was able to get the sanction lifted early since it looked like he wouldn’t be home for much of December and he reluctently agreed to let me decorate last weekend instead. I fed him wine and snacks and I think that helped my case.
This is Mac’s first Christmas with us and he was very interested in the tree (and by “interested” I mean that he made himself the official tree inspector and climbed up into the branches for a closer look).
I still love these diamond ornaments that I made last year, they make me so happy!
My favorite Christmas decor item is still this light up sign I made last year. It makes the living room feel so much more magical and cozy when it’s lit. I highly recommend making one if you haven’t and you can store it to use for several Christmases to come. Also, that pom-pom garland is a DIY from last year too.
As you can see, snacks are key to persuading people…
I also made these leather stockings last year too. Man, I reused so many things, I hardly had to make anything!
Now that we are all decorated for Christmas we can sit back, turn the fireplace on, and relax our way to December 25th. Perhaps I’ll add in a cup of Nutella hot chocolate? Happy decorating!
It’s Valentine’s Day!
I don’t know if you know it, but Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s actually also my middle name (yes, it’s Laura Valentine Gummerman) which is probably mostly why I like it so much. I usually love spending hours putting up lots of streamers and hanging little hearts from the ceiling, but this year has been a bit busier than usual, so I had to think of something a little more time friendly. I can’t tell you what it is since it’s a surprise for Todd (duh!), but I’ll let you know if it turned out well in a few days. In the meantime, here’s a few photos from past St. Valentine’s Days:
Our night is going to be full of sushi (Todd’s request) and lots of cheese/salami/merlot snack times (my request). Hope you are with loved ones today enjoying some sweet treats! VALENTINE OUT!!!
Home For Christmas
Well, we are finally home and (mostly) unpacked from our Christmas trip back to Pennsylvania. I can’t tell you how sad I was to leave my lovely little family. The night before we left my dad gave me a giant hug and begged me to stay another week- I wish so badly I could have said, “Your wish is granted!” and extended our stay, but alas, life in the midwest keeps rolling onward and with it we must go. There were too many favorite moments to count, but here are a few highlights:
My brother Joel bought his first house! So proud of him…
I got to meet his girlfriend Sarah for the first time in person. She’s smart, funny, and loves Adventure Time and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. We like. Her hilarious sister Annie is also a family favorite already.
We also met my new sister-cat Gracie. I say she’s my “sister-cat” because she’s my mom’s cat and you determine your relationship to cats based on who their mom or dad is. A child of my Mom would be my sibling, therefore Gracie is my sister-cat and she’s also the aunt-cat to my kitty Charlie. Duh. Gracie and Charlie are look a-likes, so her constant sweetness and lap napping helped us miss our little fur ball much less while we were gone.
I haven’t seen my sister Rachel since January and she isn’t usually able to come home for Christmas due to her husband’s work schedule, but we got to spend one full day of human sister time catching up on gossip over lattes, so that was a rare treat.
You can see our Christmas Eve dinner tradition of fried shrimp and a dish we call “potato puff” as well as our annual Christmas brunch. Most of our traditions revolve around food, but I think that’s pretty normal I guess…
Anyways, I can’t even tell you how precious my parents are. They are the cutest, sweetest, kindest, most generous, adorable humans to walk the earth, and I really do treasure every moment with them. It doesn’t happen often enough.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday as well!